The City Cup
by BLS Barbaros
Summary: What if Duel Monsters was a ridiculously popular sport in our world? This story follows several aspiring pro duelists in their final adventure before they make it to the big show. But, of course, it wouldn't be a good Duel Monsters story without a little Dark Magic... So far, all characters are OC's. I don't own anything but the OC's and this story. Rated T for safety
1. Chapter 1

**Intro; SvL**

Wednesday June 1, 2013

"_I summon the Blue-Eyes White Dragon!" my opponent cried. The fearsome dragon materialized on his side of the field and roared. Despite the fact that I had no monsters, I merely stared impassively at the beast. Unfazed, my opponent continued._

"_Now, I activate the magic of Polymerization to fuse this dragon with the two in my hand in order to summon the Blue-Eyes Ultimate Dragon!" He held the magic card aloft and it began to glow. Then, out of the card emerged a light which grew and became a three-headed dragon that would surely be my demise. Unless I activated my trap._

"_Attack my ultimate creature! Neutron Blast!"_

BEEP! BEEP! BEEP!

_Where was that sound coming from? The Ultimate Dragon launched its attack. It was time to spring my trap._

BEEP! BEEP! BEEP!

_What was that beeping? The attack was getting closer. Better play my card…_

BEEP! BEEP! BEEP!

_Just need to…_

My eyes snapped open and instead of looking at a Neutron Blast, I was looking at my beeping alarm clock. I groaned, rolled over, and put my pillow over my ears. Then my mother entered my room.

"Get up, Simon," she said cheerfully, "You have one more day of school and you don't want to be late," she continued, turning off my alarm. I groaned in response. How should she be so cheerful and energetic at this hour?

"Coffee," she replied after I asked, "It does wonders, now get up and get ready for school," she commanded as she left my room. Groaning (again), I left the comfort of my bed and began to comply.

Half an hour later, my mom herded my younger brother and me out of the door and into my car. Like always, she made sure we left for school on time.

"So what's today's schedule?" Isaac (my brother, in case you couldn't figure it out) asked as I drove.

"Well for underclassmen, like you, the schedule is two finals, then leave. For seniors, like me, the schedule is short assembly, then leave."

He laughed and said, "Man, that's so unfair! Why do you guys get out one day early, bruh?" Seniors also didn't have school tomorrow, and then had graduation on the following day.

"Because seniors are awesome and sophomores aren't."

It was about then that we pulled into the high school parking lot. I parked next to my friends' cars, shut off the engine, grabbed my backpack, and exited the car. My Duel Disk jutted out of my backpack as I walked into Central High School for (hopefully) the last time.

Despite the name, Central High was located on the outskirts of New York City. It was a fairly unimpressive two story building with windows in every classroom. Behind the school were a football field, tennis courts, and a baseball field. Inside, posters congratulated the senior class, advertised the graduation ceremony, and wished students luck on their finals.

My brother and I went our separate ways when we entered the building. I headed upstairs to meet up with my friends before the assembly. As usual, I was the last one there (seriously, how do people wake up so early?)

"'Sup, Jew."

"'Sup, Mex."

Lorenzo grinned as I finished our familiar greeting. He was one of my best friends, despite our constant mocking of each other's heritages (no, 18 year-old guys don't make sense). John just shook his head.

"I see you remembered your Duel Disk this time," he said.

"Of course, I mean, it's not like I forgot it yesterday, or the day before or anything," I said innocently. John was my best friend and it was basically his job to remind me of every time I ever messed up. Like when I was supposed to bring my Duel Disk to school the past two days but hadn't.

"Wasn't it your idea to bring our decks and Disks so we could practice after our shortened school days?" John added.

"I get it, I'm forgetful," I said with exasperation and an eye-roll for good measure, "But hey, I even brought my lucky charm," I said, pointing to the golden rod hanging from my belt loop. The rod had a round projection at the top with two smaller projections that looked like axe-heads on either side. There was also an odd symbol of a black and gold eye.

"Me too," Lorenzo added, taking his pendant out from under his shirt. The pendant hung on a golden chain, to match its color, around his neck. The pendant consisted of a large ring with five smaller pendants hanging off it. There was a pyramid inside of the ring that had the same insignia as my charm.

"Anyway, do you guys know what the assembly is about?" I asked

"No," they said in unison.

"But it's only an hour so it can't be that bad," Lorenzo added.

As if on cue, the school's intercom buzzed to life and a voice said "At this time, would all seniors please report to the gymnasium. All seniors to the gymnasium. Thank You."

Our group of three headed downstairs and across the school to the gym. The bleachers were pulled out and students were filing into seats. We found three empty spots near the front and sat down. After everyone arrived and sat down, the school's principal, Mr. Davis, walked to the center of the basketball court carrying a microphone.

"Good morning graduating class of 2013!" he began, speaking into the mike, "First of all, I would like to congratulate all of you for making it this far and earning your high school diplomas. I am proud of every one of you. This morning, I want to go over a few things about graduation on Friday and graduation practice tomorrow."

At this point, there was a collective groan from the students. To his credit, Mr. Davis handled it well.

"I know this won't be the most exciting two days, but it is necessary for the ceremony on Friday. Before all that however, I would like to recognize some of the outstanding achievements of this senior class. Congratulations to our football team…"

I began tuning out the words of Mr. Davis and instead looked at the wall clock and counted down the time until I could leave. I still caught bits and pieces. The quarterback got an athletic scholarship. The star point guard set the school scoring record. An annoyingly upbeat girl was the valedictorian (WHY ARE PEOPLE HAPPY IN THE MORNING?). An Indian girl won some scholarship. And then…

"Finally, I would like to recognize some of our most well known and sought after students: John Bihl, Lorenzo Betancourt, and Simon Brown. Would you three please stand up?"

A little perplexed, Lorenzo, John and I rose and looked around the gym at our classmates who were, in turn, looking at us.

"These three young men all have standing contract offers from the Duelists' Tour. Additionally, they are all expected to be drafted in this month's NDA Draft. Simon and Lorenzo are both nationally ranked duelists and are favorites to reach the tournament round of next week's 20th annual City Cup. These young men are already at the top of their chosen profession, and they haven't even graduated high school yet! Please, join me in congratulating these impressive students!"

A round of applause, with some cheers from some of the more outgoing (read, obnoxious) students, broke out. Sometimes, I forgot how popular Duel Monsters had become in America. The three of us looked around the gym and grinned, laughing when we made eye contact with our friends.

In America, dueling at the national level had been divided into three distinct modes of competition: The Duelists' Tour (or the Tour), the National Dueling Association (or NDA), and high school dueling. The Duelists' Tour and NDA were both professional leagues with nearly identical levels of competition. In fact, most duelists of the NDA were also on the Tour.

The Duelists' Tour was a league for professional one-on-one (or solo) dueling tournaments. The Tour offered duelists it felt were worthy contracts to join. Each contract was individually negotiated, though length and worth were the only negotiable aspects of the deal. When your contract expired, the Tour chose whether or not to re-sign you. The Tour sanctioned various tournaments throughout their season (January-May). Each tournament had its own prize, but all followed the same format: solo duels until only one duelist remained. Each duelist is required to participate in a certain amount of tournaments per season and certain tournaments are more prestigious than others.

The NDA, however, was a dueling league made up of teams. Each team was comprised of 5-8 duelists, rarely more or less. The NDA had various tournament formats that incorporated teams in some way. Teams earned points based on where they finished in the tournaments. The season's final tournament, which was always the weekend before Christmas, was a solo duel tournament that every duelist on an NDA team entered. That tournament was arguably the best of the year, since it included teammates battling, teams battling for the points championship, and rivalries developed over the course of the season being settled. The NDA held a draft every June where teams acquired new eligible duelists.

Finally, there was high school dueling. Since duelists weren't eligible for either professional league until they were eighteen, various amateur tournaments for high school students were organized. Eventually, they became so popular, that many pro scouts started to use them to find new talent. The professional leagues then started a joint effort to regulate high school dueling (much like the NCAA regulates college sports, but without the injustice and corruption). The most important, most prestigious, and most impactful high school tournament was the City Cup, held in New York City, which was always held a few weeks before the NDA draft. Ten of the previous nineteen winners of the City Cup were subsequently selected 1st in the NDA draft.

The cheering in the gymnasium had now been replaced by chanting.

"Duel! Duel! Duel!" the senior class chanted because seniors will take any opportunity for a distraction of any kind. Lorenzo and I grinned at each other and began readying our Duel Disks. John just sat down and gave me a look that said, _Leave me out of this_.

Mr. Davis, himself a pro dueling fan, looked at us and nodded before taking an unoccupied seat in the front row. Lorenzo and I immediately took his place at center court, shuffling our decks. The crowd cheered wildly.

"Can someone put 4000 lifepoints on the scoreboard?" I asked as we finished shuffling and cut each other's decks. As the scoreboard was set up, we walked to opposite ends of the court and took our places.

Lorenzo looked at me with a giddy grin, undoubtedly caused by getting the opportunity to duel during school. Not me. I gave Lorenzo a cold stare as I blocked out my surroundings, as I always did before a duel.

During this time, I became very introspective. Thoughts flashed through my mind, and I eliminated those that didn't have to do with this duel. The remaining thoughts ran through my mind.

Lorenzo and I were good. According to the Tour's official prospect rankings, I was the 12th best high school duelist and Lorenzo was 15th. According to the NDA's rankings, I was 7th and he was 13th (apparently we both benefitted from team play). Not only were we good, but we knew each other's decks and strategies very well. This was going to be a very evenly matched duel, especially with less lifepoints than a tournament duel. On the bright side, this was great practice for the City Cup.

"Alright," Lorenzo said, breaking me out of my pre-duel trance, "I'll go first." He drew a sixth card to start his turn, and immediately played it.

"I activate the magic of Valhalla, Hall of the Fallen!" he exclaimed. When Lorenzo slid the card into the Magic/Trap slot on his duel disk, the holographic projectors on each disk lit up. Then, a huge structure with stone pillars and red curtains appeared behind Lorenzo. As usual, I marveled at the realism of the holograms.

"Impressed?" Lorenzo asked, "Just wait until I use its effect. When I have no monsters on the field, I can Special Summon one Fairy-Type monster from my hand. So, I play Fairy Archer in attack mode (1400 600)." A small, hovering fairy with yellow and red wings and a longbow appeared on the field.

"And I'm not done yet. Now I summon Shining Angel (1400 800) in attack mode. And next, I activate the effect of my Fairy Archer: For every Light monster on my side of the field, you take 400 points of damage."

An arrow with a glowing ball at the end appeared on Fairy Archer's bow. She took aim, and fired the arrow at my chest. Instinctively, I flinched even though I knew the hologram would merely pass through my body. My lifepoints dropped to 3200.

"If that's all," I said, "I think I'll take my turn now. And I'll begin by playing one monster face down and finish by playing three cards face down."

"Hmmm…interesting," Lorenzo said with a frown as he drew his next card. He was rightly wary. The strength of my deck lied in my traps, so much so that the dueling community had nicknamed me the Trapper (I know, not very original, but better than Lorenzo's Fighting Fairy moniker. Yikes!). My friend knew he had to proceed with caution.

"I sacrifice my two monsters in order to summon Athena (2600 800)!" Lorenzo's monsters disappeared and in its place appeared an angel with flowing white hair, a flowing white dress, a silver trident and a gold-rimmed silver shield. Lorenzo had summoned one of his strongest monsters. The crowd loudly cheered him on.

"Now I activate the spell, Double Summon. As the card says, I can normal summon again this turn. So give a warm welcome to Tenderness (700 1400)." A small pink cherub with blue wings appeared, causing all the girls to go "Awww…" Then a lance of white energy fired from Athena's trident and went through my chest, dropping my lifepoints to 2600.

"For those of you who are a little confused," Lorenzo said, "Every time I summon a Fairy, Athena inflicts 600 points of direct damage to my opponent. But that's not all she can do: I sacrifice Tenderness in order to summon Fairy Archer from my graveyard." Lorenzo's Tenderness disappeared, and Fairy Archer took its place. Then Athena's effect dropped my lifepoints to 2000. Then Fairy Archer's effect dropped them to 1200.

"I'm getting real sick of losing lifepoints without you attacking me." I said.

"Well I won't keep you waiting any longer," Lorenzo replied, "Athena, attack his face down monster."

"Big mistake," I said with a grin, "It's time for you to meet my Fairy: Kelbek (1500, 1800)."

"No!"

Athena stabbed my monster with her trident, shattering it into a million pieces. But, then Athena disappeared as well.

"That's right," I said triumphantly, "When a monster attacks Kelbek, it's returned to its owner's hand."

"But your lifepoints are still wide open. Fairy Archer, finish him!" Her arrow appeared and she pulled back her bow…

"Not so fast! I activate my Draining Shield trap!" A transparent green dome materialized over me and blocked his Archer's attack. Then my lifepoints increased to 2600.

"Not only does my Draining Shield block your attack, but it increases my lifepoints by the attack points of your monster. Now it's my turn." I drew my card and played it quickly.

"I play Graceful Charity, allowing me to draw 3 cards and discard 2." I picked up my cards and discarded before allowing myself a small smile. "Lorenzo…this duel is over."

"Ha! You haven't even touched, my lifepoints," he confidently said.

"I activate Call of the Haunted in order to summon Dark Blade (1800 1500) from my graveyard."

"It must have gotten there when you used Graceful Charity!" Lorenzo said.

"Yep, and there's more. I sacrifice my monster in order to summon Great Maju Garzett (0000 0000)!"

A terrible purple and blue fiend with tufts of pale hair on its back and forearms came to existence on my side of the field.

"Oh no, not him!" Lorenzo groaned.

"Yes, him! And as you know, he gets double the attack points of the monster I tributed to summon him (3600)! Now I play the Fissure magic card. I'm sure you're familiar with its power."

"Yeah, yeah it destroys the monster with the lowest attack on the field, in this case my Fairy Archer." When he finished speaking his monster shattered and was sent to the graveyard.

"And now your lifepoints are wide open. But first, I have one more trap: I activate Blast with Chain! This card increases my monster's attack by 500 points (4100)! Any last words?"

Lorenzo just looked at me for a second before saying, "None I can say in school."

I laughed before declaring "Great Maju Garzett, attack his lifepoints directly!" The huge monster slashed at Lorenzo with his claws, reducing his lifepoints to 0 and giving me the win. My monster gave one last victorious roar before the holograms shut off. Lorenzo and I met at center court and shook hands.

"You're lucky I didn't have 8000 lifepoints," he muttered.

"Didn't I have the advantage there?" I responded good-naturedly. Mr. Davis also walked to center court with his microphone to conclude the assembly.

"Well that was fun. Good show guys," he began, "Now remember, rehearsal is tomorrow at 11:00 AM-actually make that 10:30 since we didn't discuss anything this morning. So, I'll see all of you, hopefully, tomorrow. You're dismissed."

"So, are you ready for some real practice?" Lorenzo asked.

"You bet," I replied with a grin.


	2. Chapter 2

**Intro Part II**

Saturday June 4

_Lorenzo's POV_

"No…no…maybe…useless…" I muttered as I went through a pile of new cards. That morning, John, Simon and I had hit up the neighborhood yard sales to find new cards before the City Cup. We lived far enough from the center of the city that people actually had yards. The box of cards that I bought had about 200 cards…but so far nothing good. Frustrated, I put down the cards and picked up my phone.

_Anything good?_ I texted Simon.

_A few noteworthy cards, but nothing 4 my deck_. _U?_ he replied.

_Nothing_ I said. I picked up the pile and continued my search. However, instead of focusing on the cards, my mind wandered.

The City Cup began on Monday. Today, several cities were hosting tournaments where the winners would get automatic entry into the Cup. 300 high school duelists from around the country had already been invited by whoever was in charge of those things. Simon would probably know. For the second year in a row, Simon and I had been invited. John had been for the first time. From what I remembered from last year, the competition could only be described as crazy.

There were two parts to the City Cup: the Qualifying Round and the Tournament. The qualifying round lasted a full week and had a unique set-up: Each duelist began the round with 10 points. The goal was to finish the round with the most points possible. Duelists earned points from winning duels and lost points from losing duels. The amount gained or lost was decided by the duelists before the start of each duel. If a duelist had 0 points, they were eliminated. John and Simon had pointed out that this meant that the best you could do in one duel was double your points and that you could only be eliminated by dueling someone with the same or more points than you.

My mind went back to the new cards when an unfamiliar name caught my eye. Hmmm…Solar Ray. I've never heard of this card before…

_John's POV_

My expression must have seemed grim as I sifted through my deck. Simon and Lorenzo had, gently, informed me that I needed a new strategy. I didn't need to re-structure my entire deck, but I needed a backup plan, or so they said. The problem was, they were right.

In several previous tournaments, I had lost because my opponent had a way to counter my strategy and I couldn't adjust. Simon in particular had figured out a way to prevent me from summoning any strong monster with just one card. Obviously, my deck needed an upgrade.

I placed my deck on my desk and regarded the binder of cards before me. I had purchased the binder this morning at a yard sale a few houses down from where Lorenzo had bought his box. Simon had said that there weren't enough cards for his taste, but I thought if the previous owner had taken such good care of the cards, they must be powerful. _Well, I guess it's time to find out, _I thought.

With a deep inhale, I opened the binder…and could not have been more disappointed. All of the cars were high level monsters with summoning conditions I had no hope of meeting! _I guess Simon was right after all,_ I thought as I despairingly flipped through the pages.

Then, on the fifth or sixth page, a card grabbed my attention. It was right in the middle slot of th set-up. I took the card out of the plastic sleeve and began reading.

_Oh, this'll do nicely…_

Sunday, June 5

_Simon's POV_

Before me were three groups of cards.

On the left was a large unorganized pile of useless (to me) cards that I stuffed back into the shoebox from whence they came. I had found the shoebox stuffed with Duel Monsters cards at the very last yard sale my friends and I had visited yesterday. Since Lorenzo and John had already snagged cards, the jackpot was all mine (insert evil laughter here). Then when I got home, Isaac enthusiastically informed me that he was victorious in his City Cup entry tournament! What a day.

The middle group was the smallest. These were the cards I was considering for my deck, which was the stack on the right. I scooped it up and thoughtfully combed through my deck, selecting the cards I would consider replacing. As currently constructed, my deck was powerful enough to carry me through the Qualifying Round; it was the Tournament I wasn't so confident about.

The sixteen duelists with the most points at 5:00 PM on the final day of Qualifying advanced to the Tournament. The first round would then be held two days later and would consist of tag duels. Tag partners were randomly assigned, so one could only hope for a partner whose strategy meshed with one's own. The quarterfinals and beyond reverted back to traditional solo duels. And to top it all off, the Tournament was being held at Madison Square Garden!

I knew I needed to be more prepared to stand a chance at MSG. Undoubtedly, I would make constant additions and revisions to my deck before Monday morning. Still I had to start somewhere (maybe this one for that card…or that trap for this spell…no). This was gonna take awhile.

I decided to take a break and flipped on the TV. I did a little channel surfing before settling on my usual choice of ESPN, where there was a preview show for the City Cup.

"_Reporting live from our set in New York City, I'm Rece Davis. Alongside me are two former City Cup Champions, David Schultz and Manuel English," the anchor said, "Gentlemen, we are less than 24 hours from the beginning of the 20__th__ City Cup. This competition has been known for drastically changing the draft stock of many duelists throughout the years. Give us a name whose draft position will improve because of the Cup."_

"_I think the machine duelist, David Todd, is gonna make it deep into this competition and make it into the discussion as a top-5 pick," David said._

"_Maybe a little name bias, eh my friend," laughed Manuel, "I like Lorenzo Betancourt to jump from the middle of the first round to the top-5."_

"_OK," Davis interrupted, "Here's who you two have chosen to advance to the Tournament portion of the City Cup." Here, a graphic was displayed listing the 16 duelists each analyst had chosen. Davis continued talking as I read the two lists. Lorenzo and I were on both of them and John was on Manuel's. The screen then shifted back to the Davis-led trio._

"_The prevailing favorite heading into the Cup is Manni English, the son of a certain person on this panel," Davis said, " Earlier, the young man sat down with our Sal Paolantonio to share his thoughts on this year's City Cup. Take a listen." The display shifted to the set of the interview with Manni and Sal sitting across from each other._

"_Manni," Sal began, "First of all, I'd like to thank you for taking the time out of your preparation for this upcoming competition to do this interview."_

"_No problem," Manni replied, "Thanks for having me."_

_Manni was relaxed in casual clothing compared to Sal's more formal attire. Manni was skinny and was of average height. He had short, curly hair and his skin gave him away as Hispanic. Unlike his father, he spoke English without an accent. Around his neck, was a leather cord supporting a golden pyramidal pendant that had the same eye design as the one on mine and Lorenzo's good-luck charms. On his face, was an infuriating smirk._

_Sal asked Manni about how his experience from last year's Cup would help him, what it would mean to win, if he compared himself to his father, and other expected stock questions. Manni, who was practiced at being in the limelight because of his famous father, answered these questions with ease. Finally, Sal asked Manni something interesting._

"_What do you think of the rivalry between yourself and Simon Brown?"_

_Manni chuckled and smirked before saying, "I don't think there's a rivalry."_

"_Well the fans certainly think there is one," Sal countered._

"_To me, to have a rivalry, both duelists gotta win."_

Click.

I fumed. I briefly considered throwing the remote through my TV before I loosened my grip. I couldn't stand Manni. And to think we used to be friends.

I first moved to New York before my freshman year of high school. Being a duelist myself, I quickly sought out the duelists at my new school. Of course there's John and Lorenzo. But Manni had also attended Central High that year. The next year, he transferred to Jefferson High in central New York, a school renowned for producing good duelists. He also broke off contact with his friends from Central.

At regional tournaments, he acted as though he didn't know us; he was cold, distant, and even occasionally antagonistic. But the coup de grace had occurred at last year's City Cup.

_In Simon's memory_

For the fifth time in as many minutes, I checked the City Cup standings on my phone while nervously fiddling with the golden rod hanging from a beltloop. As expected, I was still in 7th place, well within the tournament cutoff. I just had to wait out this final hour, and I would be in the City Cup Tournament. I leaned back on the city bench and watched as the people strolled by.

"Comfortable?"

My head whipped around to the sound of that voice. It was Manni, standing with his arms crossed under his pyramid-pendant and wearing his duel disk, a few feet away from me. Smirking.

"Yep," I replied, "And you should be too. You're in 5th, basically assuring you a spot in the tournament."

"I don't wanna be 5th. I wanna be number 1. And you're the only one around who has enough points to get me there," he said brandishing his duel disk.

I laughed and said, "I won't duel you, Manni. That would be the height of stupidity."

"It's too bad you don't have a choice," Manni replied, "According to the City Cup rules, a duelist can't refuse an all-or-nothing duel."

My eyes widened in surprise. This guy was certifiably insane! "You do realize that if you lose you'll be eliminated for sure? That's a serious risk, and for what? There is no reward for finishing the Qualifying Round in 1st place you dimwit!"

"I know what I'm doing. I'm finishing you off. Now, let's duel."

"If we must." I rose and activated my duel disk as he did likewise. Passersby quickly realized what was happening and formed a small crowd. Cameras sought out the high-profile, high stakes duel, and we were soon being filmed from every angle. Undoubtedly, TV screens across the city showed us facing off with 8000 lifepoints apiece, per tournament rules.

"Since I'm being forced into this duel, I think it's only fair I go first," I said. I drew another card to give me a total of six.

"I summon Garoth, the Lightsworn Warrior (1850, 1300). Then, I place two cards face-down, and end my turn."

Manni drew his card and began his move. "I summon Rapid-Fire Magician (1600 1200). Now, every time I activate a normal magic card, my Magician will inflict 400 damage to your lifepoints. So, I'll play Graceful Charity, allowing me to draw 3 cards and discard 2." Manni drew his cards and immediately discarded 2, leaving him with 5 cards in his hand. In the meantime, Rapid-fire Magician's effect resolved and it fired a colored orb from each of its staffs. The orbs passed through my chest and my lifepoints dropped to 7600.

"Next," Manni continued, "I play Monster Reborn to summon a monster I just discarded, Dark Magician Girl (2000, 1700)!" The bright and smiling Magician appeared on Manni's side of the field as Rapid-Fire repeated his act on my lifepoints (7200). "Then, I play the magic card Sage's Stone. When Dark Magician Girl is on the field, I can activate this card to summon my Dark Magician from my deck!" After my lifepoints dropped (again) to 6800, Manni's trademark monster came to the field: his red Dark Magician, whose smirk was mirrored by his master.

"Now I sacrifice my Dark Magician and Dark Magician Girl in order to special summon an even more powerful monster: Sorcerer of Dark Magic (3200, 2800)!" Manni's two magicians disappeared and were replaced with a sinister looking magician with dark purple robes and wielding a wicked staff.

"And before I attack, I still have two cards in my hand," Manni said ominously.

"I activate Magical Dimension, which allows me to sacrifice one monster on my side of the field in order to special summon a Spellcaster from my hand my, like my Dark Magician!"

"But…you already tributed your Dark Magician!"

"I tributed _one_ of them. There are three in my deck. Now, I tribute Rapid-Fire Magician to summon Dark Magician!"

A sarcophagus appeared on the field where Rapid-Fire Magician had been. The sarcophagus opened and out stepped Manni's red robed monster.

"Oh, and I forgot to mention, Magical Dimension also allows me to destroy 1 monster on the field. And I choose your Lightsworn Warrior."

There were some choice 4-letter words running through my mind as Dark Magician blasted Garoth from the field, but the fact that I was currently on national television prevented me from uttering them.

"Finally," Manni continued, "Attack, my monsters!"

My turn. "Not so fast!" I cried. "I activate my trap, Compulsory Evacuation Device! This trap sends one monster on the field back to its owner's hand. So I guess your Sorcerer of Dark Magic will get to spend a little more quality time with you." I smiled smugly as I knew I had him beat. Until the Sorcerer of Dark Magic slashed my card in half with its staff!

"Hey! What gives!?" I shouted.

"The effect of my Sorcerer," Manni replied with an obnoxious smirk, "He can negate the activation and destroy any trap card I choose. So my Spellcasters will continue their attack."

And so they did. Dark Magician's Dark Magic Attack dropped my lifepoints to 4300 before Sorcerer of Dark Magic put me down to 1100.

"And I end my turn," Manni finally said to my utmost relief.

"Alright, comeback time," I declared and drew.

"Just what I needed! I play the Dark Hole magic card too destroy every monster on the field!"

A swirling black hole appeared above the field and sucked up Manni's monsters, leaving him defenseless.

"And now that your Sorcerer is gone, I can activate my face-down card: Call of the Haunted, which I will use to revive Garoth, the Lightsworn Warrior. And next, I sacrifice Garoth in order to summon Great Maju Garzett (0000 0000)!"

"You went through all that trouble to summon a monster with no attack points? HA!" Manni sneered. Which made the look on his face as my monster's attack became 3700 all the better.

"Not quite. Garzett's attack points become double the attack of the monster I sacrificed to summon him. Now, Great Maju Garzett attack his lifepoints directly!" I commanded. Garzett fired a purple acidic sludge at Manni and brought his lifepoints down to 4300. "Before I end my turn, I place two more cards face-down."

Manni looked grim as he drew his next card. His expression didn't change as he wordlessly set it face-down in his Magic/Trap slot. With no other cards in his hand, his turn ended.

_This is it,_ I thought, _If I draw a monster here, it's over._ With a deep breath, I drew my card…and came up with Dark Blade (1800 1500)!

"It's over now! I summon-"

"Hold it!" Manni shouted, "I activate my face-down card Magical Explosion!" From Manni's trap emerged an old magician in red and purple robes with a green staff.

"I can only activate this trap when I have no cards in my hand," Manni explained, "Now, for every magic card in my graveyard, this card inflicts 200 points of damage to your lifepoints!"

"Well the joke is on you then for you only have 4 magic cards in your graveyard, leaving me with 200 lifepoints," I said.

"You're forgetting about Graceful Charity. You know I discarded Dark Magician Girl, but what about the other card?" Manni replied.

"Oh no," I softly said. My face went pale as realization washed over me, "You…you discarded a magic card."

Manni's smirk had returned. "That's right. Now, Magical Explosion, finish him!"

A green light fired from the magician's staff and went through my chest, dropping my lifepoints to 0.

_Present_

I don't remember much of what happened after that. All I could think was that I had been eliminated from the City Cup after I had assured myself a spot in the Tournament. All because Manni had forced me into a duel! I must have gotten pretty mad in an interview afterwards, because this year the organizers had removed that rule.

_That isn't the only thing that will be different this year,_ I thought and went back to editing my deck.


	3. Chapter 3

**Cup's Eve; JvM**

Later that night

_John's POV_

Simon, Lorenzo, and I took our seats in a booth at our favorite restaurant, The Retreat. Ordinarily, we couldn't afford to eat at a place in the city itself, without our parents that is, but The Retreat was serving City Cup contestants for free for the length of the Qualifying Round beginning tonight, as were many other eateries throughout New York.

Shortly after we sat down, a waitress came and took our drink orders. When she came back with our drinks, Lorenzo tried, and failed, to impress her with his dueling accolades. After she once again left, Simon laughed so hard he spit out his water, making Lorenzo and I laugh even harder. It was a good night.

"…and that's why I'm afraid of elephants," concluded Lorenzo around a bite of burrito.

"You should never have let your brother put a peanut on your head," Simon replied before biting his burger.

"I was 7!" Lorenzo protested. We all laughed before we were cut off by the sound of someone loudly clearing their throat. Turning we saw a pudgy man with graying hair and an apron.

"Gentleman, I understand you three will be contestants in tomorrow's Cup?" he asked jovially.

"Yeah," I responded, "And we like our chances."

"Good, good," he said, "Allow me to introduce myself: I'm Dustin Descalso, the owner of this establishment."

"Nice to meet you sir," we all said.

"We love eating here. It's our favorite place in the city," I added

"Ah, so you're from New York. Excellent. Anyway, here at The Retreat, we have, what I like to call, a Cup's Eve tradition," Mr. Descalso continued, "I like to get pictures with any City Cup participants if they come here the night before the competition begins. Then, if they make the Tournament, I hang their picture somewhere on the wall," he said motioning to the many picture frames dotting the walls of the restaurant.

"You must be a big fan of Duel Monsters," Simon said.

"Yes, yes," Mr. Descalso confirmed. He looked wistful as he added, "Many years ago, when I was much younger, and much skinnier, I too was a duelist. I even had stint on the Tour, albeit a very brief one."

"Well, we'd be happy to take pictures with you," Lorenzo said. With that, Mr. Descalso called over a busboy and handed him a camera. We posed separately and all together with the cheery owner as the busboy snapped photos.

When we finished we shook hands and I said, "I can't wait to see my picture on your wall after I make the Tournament."

"You? Make the Tournament?"

I turned to find the source of the insult and spotted Manni English standing a few feet away, laughing, and his signature trinket bouncing as he did.

"What's so funny?" I asked coldly.

"You, thinking you have a shot at making the Tournament. If it were up to me, you wouldn't even be in the City Cup to start with!" he explained before bursting with laughter again.

Manni and I had never been good friends, even when we both attended Central High. But there had definitely been an animosity between us since last year's Cup. I had confronted Manni about his duel with Simon the next time I saw him, and since then, it had been nothing but insults and dismissals from him. Normally, I didn't allow these things to get to me, but he was pushing me towards me the edge.

"Hey guys, what's going on?"

Our attention went behind Manni where Chase Raynys stood. I unclenched the fists I hadn't realized I made.

"Hey, what are you doing here?" Simon said kindly. It was just about impossible not to be kind to Chase. He was about the nicest guy anyone knew. Not only that, but he was a three-sport star at Jefferson High in addition to being a pretty good duelist. I was glad to call him a friend, although some people, *cough* Simon *cough*, couldn't overlook his single flaw: He was close friends with Manni.

"Just meeting Manni," Chase replied.

"Of course," Simon muttered under his breath.

"Manni, are we going to sit down and eat or what?" Chase asked his friend.

Manni looked right at me and replied, "Sure, we'll leave these losers alone for now."

"Manni-" Chase began but I forcefully cut him off.

"THAT'S IT! You, me, duel, now!"

"Oh boy," Simon said.

"Not good," Lorenzo muttered.

"Guys, save it for the Cup," Chase pleaded.

Manni smirked and continued staring me in the eye as he said, "You're on. Outside, five minutes."

I retrieved my sling sack, which held my duel disk and deck (a good duelist is always prepared), from under our table. I could hear Chase trying to talk Manni down as my friends tried to do the same.

"Look man, you don't have to do this."

"He's gonna wipe the floor with you. What's that gonna prove?"

I held up my hand to forestall any further arguments. "Guys, I appreciate the advice, but I'm gonna handle this myself. That's guys been pushing me too far for too long."

"Fine, lose," Simon said, "Do what you gotta do." Lorenzo stood there silently looking grim. I turned away from them and walked outside to face Manni.

He and Chase had already arrived when I emerged from The Retreat. Manni was leaning against the side of the building while Chase shook his head.

"So," Manni said, "You showed. How do you wanna do this? 4000 lifepoints to make it quick?"

"No," I answered coldly, "Full 8000." Manni nodded and we took our places.

"Before we start," Manni said and began looking through his deck. He plucked three cards from his deck and showed them to me: his three Dark Magicians. Then he slipped the cards in his pocket. "Let's do this."

I drew my five cards and inwardly smiled. _You're gonna regret this Manni._

_Manni's POV_

"Since you challenged me," I announced, "I'll go first." I drew my first card and surveyed my hand. Skilled Dark Magician and Knight's Title were now rather useless. "I play Graceful Charity, which allows me to draw 3 cards and discard 2." I drew my new cards and discarded my useless ones. "Now, I summon Skilled White Magician in attack mode (1700 1900)." A magician robed in white and carrying a staff appeared before me. "Then, I place 2 cards face-down. Now, I activate the magic of Spell Chronicle." A blue scroll covered with Japanese symbols appeared on my side of the field. Additionally, a small floating white orb came to being beside Skilled White Magician. "Here's how it works: First, I discard my hand. Then, I choose five magic or trap cards and remove them play. So I choose Monster Reborn, Pot of Greed, Anti Spell, Enlightenment, and Magical Dimension. And as for the rest…well, you'll see. I end my turn."

John seemed confused as to what my strategy was. He didn't know what Spell Chronicle did, he probably doesn't know what my Skilled White Magician does, and he doesn't know what my face-down cards are. Well he was in for a real surprise.

_Lorenzo's POV_

"I wonder what Spell Chronicle will do," Chase said. I was wondering the same thing. None of us had ever seen Manni use that card.

"I think he's using this duel to experiment with new strategies," Simon said.

"What do you mean?" Chase asked.

"I mean, he's the #1 amateur duelist in the country. Everyone knows Manni and his strategies. People are going to be gunning for his Dark Magicians and he's going to need to find a way to win without them at some point."

"I see," Chase replied.

"What I see," I said, "Is that John has even less of any idea of what's going on than us."

_John's POV_

I have no idea what's going on. Manni had just removed 5 cards from play for his Spell Chronicle and discarded his hand, so it must be a powerful card. Plus, his Skilled White Magician had 1 spell counter and if it's anything like his Skilled Dark Magician, he can summon a pretty powerful monster when it reaches 3 counters. I need to destroy it before that happens.

"Alright," I began as I drew a card, "I summon Elemental Hero Clayman in defense mode." A large brown humanoid seemingly made of rock arrived on my side of the field in a guarded stance.

"And now," I said, "I activate the magic of Different Dimension Capsule. This magic card allows me to remove one card in my deck from play and then on my 2nd standby phase, that card goes to my hand." As I chose the card from my deck and shuffled, another orb appeared next to Skilled White Magician. Additionally, one of the two large Japanese symbols on Manni's Spell Chronicle began to glow. _So,_ I thought, _that card uses spell counters too._

"Next, I play Mask of Dispel." A depressing mask attached itself to Manni's Spell Chronicle. Also, two more spell counters emerged on Manni's side of the field. "The controller of the spell card this mask is attached to loses 500 lifepoints during each of my standby phases. Now, I end my turn by playing one card face-down."

Manni drew his card and smiled as he surveyed the field. "It's time to show you the full power of my Spell Chronicle," he declared. "When I remove 2 spell counters from this card, you must choose 1 of the 5 cards I removed from play earlier for me to add to my hand." The two glowing symbols dimmed and a holographic display of the 5 cards from earlier was shown. I looked at the cards and quickly chose Pot of Greed, which Manni added to his hand.

"As you can see," Manni began, "My Skilled White Magician has 3 spell counters, which means I can activate its effect. By sacrificing my magician, I can summon Buster Blader (2600 2300) from my hand, deck, or graveyard. And this time, it's coming from my deck!" Manni selected a card from his deck and placed it on his duel disk, replacing Skilled White Magician. A warrior with blue and gold armor and a huge curved sword materialized on the field.

"The Dark Magician isn't my only powerful monster," Manni stated, "Next, I play Pot of Greed to draw two cards. And then, Buster Blader attack Clayman!"

"Not so fast!" I cried, "I activate my trap card, A Hero Emerges! Here's how it works: When you attack, you choose a card in my hand, and if it's a monster I can special summon it." I held up the two remaining cards in my hand and said, "So choose."

Manni looked at my hand for a few seconds before saying, "The card on the right."

"Sorry, Manni," I said, "I summon Elemental Hero Ocean (1500 1200) in defense mode."

"I don't see how that changes anything!" Manni declared, "Buster Blader, attack!" His warrior rushed forward, leaped, and slashed through Clayman with its sword. "Before I end my turn," Manni continued, "I place one card facedown."

I drew my card to begin my turn and frowned at the field. Not only did Manni have a powerful monster, he had three face-down cards to protect himself. All I had was Ocean and my Different Dimension Capsule. The score remained tied at 8000 apiece. I suppose I should change that.

"During my standby phase, you lose 500 lifepoints due to my Mask of Dispel." Manni frowned as his score dropped to 7500. "Also, I can activate the effect of Elemental Hero Ocean which allows me to return an Elemental Hero from my graveyard to my hand, and I choose Clayman."

"Just get on with your turn," Manni growled.

"Gladly," I returned, "I activate Polymerization to fuse Elemental Hero Ocean and Elemental Hero Clayman to fusion summon Vision Hero Adoration (2800 2100)!" Clayman briefly appeared on the field before Polymerization swirled Ocean and Clayman together to form a black clad monster whose robe flared out in ribbons.

"And I'm not done yet! I summon Elemental Hero Lady Heat (1300 1000)! Now, Vision Hero Adoration can activate its effect. I can reduce the attack of one of your monsters by the attack of one of my Elemental Heroes!" Adoration's ribbons wrapped themselves around Buster Blader and pulsed with energy, causing Buster Blader's attack to drop to 1300.

"Now, Adoration attack!"

"HA!" Manni laughed, "I activate my trap card, Scrap-Iron Scarecrow!" Vision Hero Adoration had retracted its ribbons and launched them at Buster Blader for an attack, but a rusty metal scarecrow on a metal frame rose out of the ground in front of Manni's warrior, blocking my attack!

"Oh, no…"

_Simon's POV_

"Guys, John is in serious trouble," I said. Lorenzo and Chase looked at me doubtfully and then Lorenzo spoke up.

"Are you sure? 'Cause he still has the strongest monster on the field."

"You don't understand," I replied, "Manni used that Scrap-Iron Scarecrow to beat me in Albany a few months ago. It's really powerful, just watch."

As if on cue, instead of going to the graveyard, Manni's trap was set back face-down!

"What the hell?" Lorenzo exclaimed. He and John had a similar look of confusion.

"Ha ha ha," Manni laughed, "After this card is activated, I can set it again instead of sending it to the graveyard. Throw whatever attacks you want at me, I'll block them all!"

"What's John supposed to do?" Chase asked.

_John's POV_

"I guess I have to end my turn now," I said. Just then, Elemental Hero Lady Heat launched a small fireball at Manni, dropping his lifepoints to 7300!

"Oh yeah," I said as if surprised, "At the end of my turn, Lady Heat inflicts 200 points of damage for every Elemental Hero I control."

Shaking off my unexpected attack, Manni began his turn with a draw. He held three cards and a decided advantage on the field. I had a stronger monster, but he had three facedown cards.

"Time to use my traps," Manni decided, "I activate Pitch Black Power Stone." The titular stone appeared on Manni's side of the field surrounded by three spell counters.

"And now I will use its effect. Once per turn, I can take one of the Stone's spell counters and put it on another card. So I'll add one spell counter to my Spell Chronicle." One counter on the Pitch Black Power Stone winked out of existence while another symbol on the Spell Chronicle lit up.

"Now that I have two counters, it's time for you to choose another card." The holographic list once again appeared, absent the Pot of Greed.

"I choose Anti-Spell," I said. Manni merely smirked as he added the card to his hand.

"Next, I summon Silent Magician LV4 (1000 1000). Then, I play Magical Dimension. This card allows me to tribute one monster on my side of the field in order to special summon one Spellcaster type monster from my hand. So, I'll tribute Buster Blader in order to summon Chaos Command Magician (2400 1900)!"

Buster Blader was encased in a chained sarcophagus which then opened to reveal the green-clad Chaos Command Magician.

"And I forgot to mention, Magical Dimension also allows me to destroy one of your monsters," Manni added. Manni's newly summoned Magician launched an attack from its staff that fried Vision Hero Adoration.

"Time to attack! Chaos Command Magician attack Lady Heat!" Again, Chaos Command Magician's staff powered up and launched an attack that destroyed one of my Heroes. This time, the attack took my lifepoints down to 6900.

"Now Silent Magician, attack!" The small wizard fired an attack from its staff and dropped my lifepoints by another 1000 points.

"I'll place one more card facedown and end my turn," Manni declared.

_It's a good thing these are holograms_, I thought. Otherwise, those attacks would have seriously hurt. Gathering myself, I drew my card, and watched as Silent Magician's attack and defense rose 1500! In addition, it grew taller and its appearance matured.

"Allow me to explain," Manni said upon seeing my dumbstruck look, "Every time you draw, Silent Magician gets a spell counter which raises his attack and defense by 500."

"Unfortunately," I replied, "After I draw, comes my standby phase, and during my standby phase, two things will happen: First, Mask of Dispel removes another 500 of your lifepoints." As I said this, Manni's score dropped to 6800. "Second, my Different Dimension Capsule is activated, sending the card I placed within it to my hand." I added the card to my hand with great satisfaction. "Before I can use this card, I need to summon an Elemental Hero monster. Luckily, I just drew one. Emerge, Elemental Hero Burstinatrix!" And emerge she did, and by she, I mean the red clad, white haired, fire-wielding female Elemental Hero. "Now, I play the magic card Mask Change!" When, the card was placed in the Duel Disk, a flash of light emanated from my Magic/Trap zone and blinded my opponent. When the glow subsided, Elemental Hero Burstinatrix was nowhere to be found, and in her place stood a red-skinned armored warrior.

"Allow me to introduce you to Masked Hero Goka (2200 1800)!"

Manni smirked and began to chuckle. "Is that all you got? 'Cause my Chaos Command Magician can handle him easily."

I smiled and suggested, "Look again." Manni did and his smirk was replaced by an expression of surprise. Goka's attack had risen to 2600!

"What happened!?"

"Goka's effect: he gains 100 attack points for every Elemental Hero in my graveyard, and there are four there now. Since he's more powerful than your magician's, I think it's time for an attack! Goka, attack Chaos Command Magician!"

Goka's fists became engulfed in flames and he charged at Chaos Command Magician before leaping in the air. For his part, Manni watched this all rather calmly. Then, too late, I figured out why.

As Goka struck with his flaming fists, Scrap-Iron Scarecrow sprang out of the ground and intercepted the attack!

"NO!"

Manni was unabashedly laughing by now. "I see you forgot about my trap. Too bad because that mistake will cost you the duel." Since I had no cards in my hand and the battle phase was over, my turn ended and Manni drew.

"It ends now!" he declared, "I play Magician's Valkyria (1600 1800) in attack mode. Next, I use Pitch-Black Power Stone's effect and transfer a spell counter to Silent Magician, raising its stats by another 500 (2000 2000). Now it's time to meet the monster that will finish you. I remove Skilled White and Skilled Dark Magicians from play in order to Special Summon Chaos Sorcerer (2300 2000)!"

Now it was my turn to be skeptical of his monster's strength. "Ha, my Masked Hero still has more attack power," I chided.

"But it can't stand up to Chaos Sorcerer's effect. In exchange for not being able to attack with Chaos Sorcerer, I can remove one monster on the field from play!"

"Uh oh…"

"Do it Chaos Sorcerer!" Manni's Sorcerer fired a beam of light from one hand and a dark beam from the other. The beams converged on my Masked Hero Goka and obliterated my last mine of defense.

"Time to end this duel! My Magician's, attack directly!"

Manni's remaining monsters powered up their staffs and let loose as one unit causing my lifepoints to crash to 0. I sunk to my knees in defeat.

_Manni's POV_

Shortly after my monsters attacked, the projectors shut down and the holograms disappeared. Feeling satisfied since I hadn't needed my Dark Magicians, my Anti-Spell trap to counter his Mask Change, nor the remaining cards I had removed from play with Spell Chronicle, I motioned to Chase and calmly walked back into the restaurant, ignoring the others. Chase apologized to the rest and followed me inside.

"That was an impressive display," he said once we were inside.

I smirked in response.


	4. Chapter 4

**Let the Games Begin; JvS**

Monday, June 6

"_This is SportsCenter live from the City Cup," the anchor, Rece Davis, said, "Our set is located here in the middle of Times Square in New York City, and joining me on the set are two people all Duel Monsters fans know well, David Schultz and Manuel English. Gentleman, what storylines will you be following closely on the first day of Cup competition?_

_Manuel spoke first in his accented English, "My favorite thing to watch for on the first day of the Cup is which region rules supreme. The West coast has 5 of the top 10 seeds, but are they the best region? Remember, the duelists from the West haven't faced the duelists from the East, or the South, or the Midwest, or anywhere else. This is the first time all of these competitors will be in a truly national competition."_

"_That will be fun to watch," David began, "but what I will be watching closely today is which of the non-seeded duelists is going to be aggressive and try to make a name for themselves and maybe even make it into the Tournament Round."_

"_All of that and more, going on today in New York City on the first day of the Qualifying Round," Rece cut in, "They call it Elimination Day, and for good reason. In every previous City Cup, over a third of the competitors have been eliminated on the first day. Remember, coverage of the 20__th__ annual City Cup on ESPN begins today at noon and will be on _24 hours a day_ on the ESPN family of networks until the conclusion of the Qualifying Round. Now, back to Bristol."_

_Simon's POV_

"Simon."

No response.

"Simon!"

Nothing.

"SIMON!"

"Huh? What?" I asked, a little startled.

"Would you quit shuffling your deck? It's starting to get annoying," Isaac complained.

"Yeah, yeah, sorry." We were sitting in our living room, with the TV providing background noise. It was around 10:00 AM, two hours before the City Cup would officially begin. Isaac and I were waiting for our ride to arrive and take us to Times Square, where duelists were supposed to gather for the Cup's beginning.

While waiting, I had lapsed into deep thought, and as I was prone to do in such a case, I had been absentmindedly shuffling my deck over and over and over.

"I'm just anxious and bored, and when the hell will he get here!?" I complained.

"How am I supposed to know?" Isaac answered.

"Thanks, bro. You are just so helpful," I replied with all the sarcasm I could muster.

We waited in silence for another few minutes before a car horn grabbed our attention. Or rather a truck horn. Looking out the window, I could see a pick-up truck parked outside the house.

"That's him," I informed an inquisitive Isaac, "Grab your stuff and let's go." Heeding my own advice, I grabbed my duel disk, sling sack, and deck and headed for the door, Isaac in tow.

"Shotgun!" he called as we headed out the door.

"Nice try," I said wryly and opened the passenger side door to get in the truck. Isaac sighed resignedly and headed for the back seat.

"What's up Brown, and younger Brown?"

The driver of the truck was none other than David Todd, nationally ranked amateur duelist and one of my best friends. We had grown up in the same small town in Pennsylvania before my family moved to New York. From then on, we only really saw each other at tournaments, but we had stayed in constant contact. He was around the same height as me but that was where the similarities ended. His Asian descent was evident from his face, he wore glasses, and a Red Sox hat covered his straight black hair.

"You're late, Todd. The parking garage is gonna be full and we're going to miss the beginning of the tournament," I lamented, "Not to mention, someone's gonna beat you up for wearing that hat here."

"They are in 1st place, I have to show my team pride," he said.

"Hey, if you guys are done talking baseball, we have some dueling to get to," Isaac said from the back seat.

"Calm down younger Brown, I'm leaving." With that, Todd put the truck in gear and began driving towards the heart of the city.

_Lorenzo's POV_

I arrived at Times Square at about 11:00 AM. I had decided to eschew driving into the city and dealing with traffic to instead make the walk from my house to Times Square. According to Simon's texts about traffic jams, I had made the right call.

I looked around the already very crowded Square. There were advertisements, shops, and people everywhere. At one end of the Square, a stage had been set up with a podium. What stood out to me though was the number of duel disks I saw. It appeared a majority of the competitors had shown up already. This didn't surprise me however because the City Cup Welcome and Rules Presentation began at 11:30.

I continued to check out the scene when a certain person caught my eye. He was bone-skinny with curly blond hair and sunken blue eyes. He likewise noticed ,and his face broke into a grin.

"Zach White. You ready to lose?"

"In your dreams, Lorenzo."

We approached, laughing, and clasped hands. Zach was one of my best friends from the dueling circuit. Being from Vermont, he participated in many New York tournaments. He also was the best duelist on the New England circuit, and last month had won the New England Amateur Championship in Boston.

"So where are the rest of your friends?" he asked.

"John should be around here somewhere, and Simon is stuck in traffic," I replied.

"Alright well let's see if we can find anyone," Zach said and began to wander through the crowd with me following. Soon enough, we found John sitting at a table at a café near the edge of the crowd.

"Hey, Lorenzo. Zach," he greeted us. He was sipping at a cup and scanning the crowd, as if looking for someone. "Has Simon showed up yet? He better not be late."

"Last I heard, he and Todd had just parked the truck. They should be here any minute," I told him.

"Doesn't Todd know better than to bring a truck into New York City during one the worst traffic weeks of the year?" he said with a small smile.

"Are you making fun of my truck?"

The three of us turned to look at the source of the new voice. Todd was glaring at John with his arms crossed while Simon laughed. Nevertheless, we managed to exchange greetings without Todd punching John or Simon.

"Hey, where's your brother?" I asked Simon.

"He took off once we reached Times Square," Simon replied, "He must have been eager to duel."

"So, White, I heard you're the new New England Amateur Champion. Congratulations," Todd said.

"Ah, New England isn't very good," Zach said with a shrug, "I prefer the competition in the Mid-Atlantic."

Todd then turned to John and said, "I heard about your loss to Manni last night, Bihl. Don't worry too much about it."

John's eyes narrowed as he replied, "I just can't wait to get revenge."

"Speaking of which," I spoke up, "I wonder where Manni and Chase are."

_Manni's POV_

I stood with folded arms and watched the competitors mingle. Chase and I had camped out at the back of the crowd and were relatively alone.

"How are we gonna find duels if we stay back here?" he had initially asked.

"Simple," I answered, "The duels will find us. Or rather, they'll find me."

"How's that?"

"People want to take their shot against the #1 ranked duelist in this competition. Those who have no chance of making it any further in Duel Monsters than the City Cup will want to say they dueled against me."

Chase considered this before saying, "And how does that help me?"

"You ask a lot of questions."

"Manni!"

"Fine, fine. Well everyone can't duel me at the same time. So, they will get impatient and duel you instead," I told him.

"I see," Chase said, "But, what if someone really good gets bored waiting for you, and challenges me?"

"That won't happen."

"You seem confident."

I glanced at my friend before continuing, "Look you're a good duelist. Not great, but good enough that you have a chance to make the Tournament Round. That means everyone better than you is gunning for the Tournament, which means they won't come looking for me."

Chase seemed thoughtful for a long moment before finally nodding in acquiescence.

_That's Chase for you,_ I thought, _he doesn't like to act until he's absolutely sure he's doing the right thing._ Amazingly, as a running back for Jefferson's football team, he was known for his speed and quickness.

I knew I was going to win this whole thing, but I couldn't help but wonder how Chase would do.

_Simon's POV_

"Hey guys," Todd said suddenly and excitedly, "The latest rankings are up!" He held up his smartphone for the rest of us to see. The phone was on the official website for the American Duel Monsters Association, whose rankings were used by most media outlets.

I eagerly scanned the rankings. Of course, Manni was 1st, and he was followed by Taylor Miller, a duelist from California who had a strong reputation, even on the East coast. Zach had jumped into the top five (5th to be exact) thanks to his recent success. Todd, Lorenzo, and I were grouped together at the back end of the top ten. I was 8th, Lorenzo 9th, and Todd 10th. John, like always, fell outside the top 25.

As usual, I was disappointed in my ranking. In my high school career, only two people had ever beaten me: Lorenzo (twice) and Manni English. The problem was, Manni had beaten me ten times now, and eight times in the past year. And I had never beaten him. After entering the year ranked 2nd to Manni, to fall to 8th entirely because of losses to him was particularly frustrating.

"So," John said to break the silence, "Anybody have a first duel lined up yet?"

Everyone responded negatively. Usually, the competitors used this time just before the Cup began to set up their first opponent. Unfortunately, none of us had done so yet.

"In that case," John continued, "Allow me to be the first. I challenge Simon!" he finished pointing at me for dramatic effect.

The rest of us looked at him dumbstruck.

"Well," I finally said, "You're my friend and I don't want to hurt your chances…"

"Don't worry," he said, "It'll only be for one point. How much can one point hurt me?"

I shrugged and replied, "I guess I see no reason not to. You're on!"

Just then, a voice was heard over the loudspeaker.

"Welcome duelists, to the 20th annual City Cup in New York City!" The crowd of duelists began to cheer. "In exactly half an hour, the City Cup Qualifying Round will begin and all duels between competitors will need to follow City Cup rules. Here to present the rules of this year's City Cup, and give the official Cup sendoff, please welcome the President of The Duelists' Tour, Robert Graves!"

Now, the crowd went crazy as a middle-aged man with salt-and-pepper hair walked on the stage and took his place behind the podium. Cameras showed his face on every screen in the vicinity.

"Wow, what a reception! Thank you all, and congratulations on being selected to compete in the City Cup!" He waited for the sudden applause to die down before continuing. "As some of you may know, in addition to my duties as President of the Tour, I am also on the rules committee of the City Cup. We on the committee strive to keep this event both unique and fair to all competitors. To that end, we have a very different format that many of you have never experienced, one that doesn't involve seeds or a tournament bracket, one that makes the City Cup the grand event that it is." He paused and took a sip from a water bottle before continuing.

"All 320 duelists in this year's Cup begin the competition with 10 points. Duelists may challenge any other duelist in the competition, but these challenges may be refused, except in one case which we will get to in a moment. Before every duel, the participants must agree on a point total that both duelists will wager on the outcome of the duel. The winner of the duel gains the agreed-upon total, and the loser loses those same points. As for the duels themselves, official ADMA rules will apply. How do we keep track? Well, when you registered for the tournament, you registered your duel disk as well so we can keep track of the duels. Also, we gave you this small device," here Graves held up a small box with a USB input on one side and a small switch on the other. There was also a triple-digit number display on one of the faces

"Plug this device into your duel disks' USB port. Use the switch to put the correct number of points on the display before each duel. That way, we can keep track of wagers. Additionally, a duelist cannot wager more points than they have. For example, if I have 15 points, I can't wager 20 points. Again there is an exception to this rule." Graves held up a hand for quiet, as many small conversations had broken out.

"Thank you," He said when we were once again quiet, "Now as I was saying, the exception to these rules is the All-or-Nothing duel. During the first twelve and final 24 hours of the qualifying round, duelists may challenge fellow duelists to non-refusable All-or-Nothing duels. In these duels, the winner gains points equal to the loser's total points. However, the loser is automatically eliminated from the City Cup. Losing an All-or-Nothing duel is one of two ways to be eliminated from the Qualifying round. The other way, is to simply have no points remaining after a duel. However, this year there is a new rule concerning All-or-Nothing scenarios. Any duelist in the top-16 of the City Cup standings can refuse an All-or-Nothing duel in the final 12 hours of the Qualifying Round."

I nodded at the mention of this new rule. Most knew it had been made because Manni eliminated me in the final hour with an All-or-Nothing duel.

"Now, the Qualifying Round will begin at noon Eastern Time today. It will end at 5:00 PM in eight days, next Tuesday. The 16 duelists with the most points at that time will advance to the Tournament Round. I'm sure most of you are familiar with the Tournament format in the City Cup so I won't delve into those rules. I'll leave you young competitors by wishing you all the best, and good luck in the City Cup and your pursuits in the rest of your lives. Thank you."

The crowd cheered as Graves walked off the stage. The loudspeaker voice returned and announced that the Cup would begin in 10 minutes.

"Well John, I guess we should find somewhere to duel," I said.

"And I guess the rest of us should try to find opponents," Todd added.

"Got that right," Zach said, "I'll see you guys later." With that, he walked into the crowd of duelists. Todd and Lorenzo said their goodbyes and soon melded into the crowd.

"Shall we?" John said.

"Let's do this," I answered. We left the Square and walked a block or two before finding an empty lot that was big enough to duel in. As we walked, I noticed that many streets were blocked off and reserved for duels.

"Time check?" John asked.

I looked at my phone and said, "Eleven fifty-eight. We have two minutes."

We both plugged in our City Cup trackers, setting the counter to one point. Then, we began shuffling our decks. As we did this, I wondered what made John want to challenge me in the first place. This duel would have very little impact on the Cup, and we could duel for fun any time. I thought it made little sense as we cut each other's decks. When I returned to my spot, I checked the time again.

"Noon," I announced, "Let's do this!"

Since we were using ADMA rules, a large holographic coin appeared between us.

"I call heads!" I said. The coin then flipped and when it stopped, it showed heads.

"Alright, I get first move," I announced. I drew my sixth card and smiled at my hand.

"I'll begin by summoning Dark Blade (1800 1500) in attack mode. Then I will place one card face down. That's all for now."

John began his first turn by drawing a card, looking at it, and grinning.

"First, I summon Elemental Hero Knospe (600 1000) in defense mode. Then I play Mask Change!"

I allowed myself a small grin. John had already made his signature move. Which means…

"Hold it! I activate my face-down card, Cursed Seal of the Forbidden Spell!" I cried. A golden seal emanating sinister purple energy appeared around John's magic card. Then, the seal constricted and shattered the card into a million tiny pieces. John looked at the action on the field with a mix of surprise and disappointment.

"What's going on?" he asked.

"My Cursed Seal negates the activation of and destroys a magic card, such as your Mask Change. However, I have to discard one magic card from my hand." I now did so, discarding the Rush Recklessly card.

"That seems like a steep price to pay," John noted.

I smiled mischievously and responded, "Well, there's more. For the remainder of the duel, my opponent cannot activate magic cards of the same name as the one I used the Cursed Seal on."

"Oh, shit!" he gasped, "That means I can't use Mask Change! Or my Masked Heroes!"

"And to make matters worse," I added, "It's my turn." I drew, putting actions to my words.

"Now, I summon Pitch Dark-Dragon (900 600) in attack mode!" My aptly named dragon emerged next to my similarly colored swordsman. They were also similar in size.

"Is that supposed to frighten me?" John mocked the small dragon.

"No," I admitted, "But this will. Dark Blade, Pitch Dark Dragon, combine!" Pitch Dark Dragon took to the air while Dark Blade leaped onto its back. Then Dark Blade's stats jumped to 2200 and 1900!

"Crap!" John exclaimed, "Are those Union monsters?"

"Yep," I said, "Pitch Dark Dragon can be equipped to Dark Blade to increase its attack and defense by 400. Now, Dark Blade attack Elemental Hero Knospe!" My combined monster flew high into the air and then swooped down over John's leafy monster, Dark Blade swinging his swords as they passed. Knospe was sliced in half then disappeared from the field. Then, John's lifepoints dropped to 6800.

"Hey! What gives? My monster was in defense mode!" John cried.

"Did I not mention earlier?" I said innocently, "It must have slipped my mind. When Dark Blade is equipped with Pitch-Dark Dragon, it gains a piercing effect. So, your lifepoints aren't safe even when you play defense. Now, I believe it's your turn."

_John's POV_

I scowled at Simon as I drew my next card.

_I can't use this now,_ I thought, _but if he gives me a chance…_

Out loud, I said, "I set one monster in defense mode and one card face down. That's it for now."

"Are you sure?" Simon asked, "Whatever, it's your funeral." He drew and smiled at his new card.

"Now I un-equip Pitch-Dark Dragon from Dark Blade." The dual-blade wielding warrior leaped back to the ground. "And now, I sacrifice my Dragon to summon a new, more powerful one, Kiryu (2000 1500)!" Gone was his small, black dragon and in its place was a large red dragon.

"And you're not out of the woods yet, Bihl! For Kiryu is also a Union monster. Kiryu, Dark Blade combine!" he called. His monsters obeyed. Kiryu flew into the air while Dark Blade jumped onto the dragon's back. This time, the dark warrior's stats jumped to 2700 and 2400!

"As you can see, Kiryu increases Dark Blade's stats by 900 points!" Simon explained.

"But it has an effect that won't allow it to attack right now?" I asked hopefully.

"You wish," Simon answered mercilessly, "Attack, my monster!"

"Hold it!" I called, "I activate my trap card, A Hero Emerges! Now, you have to choose a card in my hand, and if it's a monster, I can special summon it."

"And if it isn't, it gets sent to the graveyard," Simon finished, "I'm aware of your card's effect. Let's do this."

I held up the three cards in my hand and waited for Simon to pick a card. He frowned and surveyed the cards.

"The middle card," he decided.

Grinning, I said, "Wrong choice! I summon Melchid the Four-Face Beast (1500 1200) in defense mode!" A moment later, the four floating masks that made up my monster appeared.

"This changes nothing. Dark Blade, resume your attack!" Simon said. His combined monster slashed at my face down monster, revealing and destroying Elemental Hero Clayman (800 2000). Curiously, my lifepoints remained at 6800.

"What happened to your monster's effect?" I inquired.

Simon grinned wickedly, "It gained a new one, a better one. I'll demonstrate now. I tribute Kiryu as an equip card to allow Dark Blade to attack your lifepoints directly!" Suddenly, Kiryu flew high into the air, then launched into a dive-bomb aimed straight for me. The dragon seemed to disintegrate in mid-air, leaving Dark Blade to fall directly at me! The swordsman swung his blades as he landed, and my lifepoints fell to 5000.

"Neat trick," I muttered.

"Well, I guess you've had enough for now. I'll end my turn," Simon said.

I studied my hand and considered my next move. _Ok, you have a card that can beat that irritating Dark Blade. But I need a monster on this draw in order to summon it. Otherwise, I'm gonna lose this duel, _I thought. With that in mind, I drew my card.

_YES! _"I summon Elemental Hero Bubbleman (800 1200) in defense mode! And, although I can't use his effects, I can use the effect of another card I'm holding. Get ready, Simon. This duel has just begun!"


	5. Chapter 5

**Let the Games Begin pt. 2; JvS cont**

_John's POV_

As my duel with Simon continued, I took a moment to gather myself and take stock of the situation before me. I had two monsters on my side of the field in defense mode, Elemental Hero Bubbleman (800 1200) and Melchid the Four-Face Beast (1500 1200). Simon had only his Dark Blade (1800 1500) in attack mode. He also had a considerable lifepoint advantage with the score at 8000 to 5000. He held three cards in his hand while I held two. One of those two I now held aloft.

"Get ready," I said, "for I am about to summon a monster you have never seen!"

"What!?" Simon exclaimed in disbelief, "But I know your deck almost as well as my own."

I smiled and responded, "Well, like you, I added some cards to my deck for the Cup. And now I can introduce you to this one. By sacrificing two monsters, one of which must be either Melchid the Four-Face Beast or Grand Tiki Elder, I can special summon Masked Beast Des Gardius (3300 2500)!" I slapped the card onto my duel disk. A bright light enveloped my monsters and when it was gone, in their place stood a huge orange and green beast, with three blue masks for faces and large silver claws.

"Des Gardius, meet Simon. Simon, meet Des Gardius," I said, "Now that that's out of the way, Masked Beast Des Gardius, attack Dark Blade!" My monster lunged at the black robed warrior and tore it to bits with its claws, leaving Simon momentarily speechless. Meanwhile, his lifepoints fell to 6500.

"I'll just play this card face down and end my turn," I finished.

Simon drew and took a moment to gather to himself.

"I have to admit," he finally said, "That was a great move. I see now why you challenged me. You thought your best shot at beating me would be to catch me off guard with your new powerhouse of a monster. And it worked. I didn't know you had that kind of fire power. Guess I shouldn't have counted you out when I took down Mask Change. You have a lot of skill."

"Thanks," I replied, "That means a lot, coming from you."

"But," he continued, "I'm going to take down your Masked Beast Des Gardius right now. And it starts with this card, Graceful Charity allowing me to draw 3 cards and discard 2." Simon picked up three cards from his deck and swiftly sent two to the graveyard.

"Next, I play Monster Reborn to revive my just discarded Bitelon (2400 1000)!"

"Aaaand that's gonna help you how?" I asked.

"Well when I play my Axe of Despair equip card to increase my monster's attack by 1000 points, I'm gonna destroy your monster," he answered.

"I see." Simon played the card, and even though his big mouthed sky serpent didn't have hands with which to wield an axe, its attack rose to 3400.

"Now, Bitelon, attack Des Gardius!" At Simon's command, Bitelon lunged across the field, ready to strike my monster. But, its attack never landed.

"I activate my face down card, Miracle Locus!" I called. A bright light enveloped my monster and repelled Simon's attack.

"Allow me to explain," I continued, "First, Miracle Locus allows you to draw 1 card. It also allows me to increase one monster's attack by 1000 until the End Phase. However, you take no battle damage from that monster.

"Shit!" Simon cursed, "My monster is toast!"

"Got that right," I said, "Des Gardius, counterattack!" As Simon's monster continued its attack, Des Gardius extended a clawed hand and grabbed the serpent by its neck. Then, with its other hand, it slashed across Bitelon's face, sending it to the graveyard. Simon frowned, looked at his hand, and shook his head.

"My turn then," I surmised. I drew, glanced at the card, and commanded, "Des Gardius, hit him directly!"

My monster did just that, raking through Simon's body with its claws. Simon couldn't help but wince as the all-too realistic monster sunk his lifepoints to 3200.

"Alright, John, you've had a good run, but now it's my turn," he said as he drew.

"Even so, what do you have that can take down Masked Beast Des Gardius?" I confidently asked.

"I guess we'll find out," Simon responded, "Because I play Pot of Greed in order to draw two more cards." He activated the magic card and drew twice more, giving him five cards in his hand. I knew Simon well enough to know when a plan was forming in his head, and right now, he definitely had a plan.

"Alright, now I'm going to summon one of my deck's most powerful monsters," he declared, "I activate the ritual magic card Black Luster Ritual!"

At least now I knew his plan.

"By tributing monsters from my hand or the field whose levels add to at least 8, I can summon the Black Luster Soldier (3000 2500)!" Simon sent two cards from his hand to the graveyard. Then, emerging from the fires of the ritual, the blue and gold plated warrior stepped onto the field.

"Now that he's here, your monster is finished," Simon concluded.

"I thought someone in AP Calculus knew how to count. As far as I'm concerned, 3300 is more than 3000," I retorted.

Simon stood there with his arms crossed and a smug look on his face. I noticed that his monster had copied his stance.

"True," he said, "But 3000 is greater than 2800."

"What are you-NO!" I cried, "Shit, it's not possible! What have you done!?" Somehow, Masked Beast Des Gardius's attack had dropped to 2800!

"Black Luster Soldier, attack!" As Simon's warrior attacked, he began explaining how he had beaten my beast.

"You see, John, when I summoned my Soldier, I discarded two monsters. One of the monsters was a card I had added to my deck for the City Cup: Archfiend of Gilfer (2200 2500). And when Archfiend of Gilfer is sent to the graveyard, I can use its effect to decrease the attack of one monster by 500 points."

As he finished, Black Luster Soldier swung his sword through my monster, causing it to explode and creating a billowing smoke cloud. His job done, the Soldier returned to Simon's side of the field. My lifepoints dropped to 4800.

"What in the world?" Simon said. The smoke cloud thinned and revealed a ghoulish red and orange mask. Suddenly, the mask launched itself at the Black Luster Soldier and became firmly attached to its face. The warrior struggled but couldn't remove the mask and eventually subdued. Then, it walked to my side of the field.

"What's going on!?" Now it was Simon who was confused.

"Congratulations, you destroyed Masked Beast Des Gardius," I said, "Now here is your reward. When this card is sent from the field to the Graveyard, I can equip The Mask of Remnants from my Deck to 1 monster on the field. And the Mask of Remnants switches control of the equipped monster. So, now it looks like I've finally beaten you."

"I won't let you beat with my favorite monster," Simon responded determinedly, "I'll place one card face-down and end my turn."

I drew my card and looked at my friend. "I'm afraid this duel is over, Simon. I play the magic card H-Heated Heart to increase the attack of one monster on the field by 500 points. And I'm choosing Black Luster Soldier. Now Black Luster Soldier, attack and end this duel!"

"You should know me better than that," Simon said, "I activate the trap card Nutrient Z." Nothing hampered the masked Soldier's attack, but instead of falling to 0, Simon's lifepoints increased to 3700.

"As you know, if I'm about to take 2000 or more points of battle damage, the Nutrient Z trap increases my lifepoints by 4000 before the attack," Simon explained.

"I'm aware. I end my turn," I said.

Simon had no cards in his hand or on the field. The card he drew was his only hope of beating me. _What did you get? _I wondered.

Seeing my inquisitive look, Simon smiled and showed me the card he drew. To my utter horror, it was the last card I wanted to see: Snatch Steal.

"Noooo," I groaned, "I was so close."

"I play Snatch Steal and equip it to my Black Luster Soldier, allowing me to re-take control."

The Soldier, still wearing The Mask of Remnants, returned to Simon's side of the field.

"Now, Black Luster Soldier, attack John directly!" It did just that, slicing through my neck and causing me to flinch. It also caused my lifepoints to fall to 1800. I composed myself and drew to begin my turn.

"During my standby phase, I gain 1000 lifepoints thanks to Snatch Steal."

"Enjoy it while you can," Simon responded as my lifepoints rose to 2800.

"I will, thanks, and I'll also play two cards facedown and set one monster in defense mode. You're up."

Simon drew and looked at my side of the field. At length he declared, "You're bluffing. I summon Zombyra the Dark (2100 500)."

A blue humanoid wearing skeletal armor and a red and purple caped stood next to Black Luster Soldier.

"What makes you think I'm bluffing?" I asked.

"Simple, if those cards you just set were any good, you would have played them earlier," Simon answered, "Moving on, as you know, Zombyra can't attack directly and loses 200 attack points for every monster he destroys. But that won't cause any problems now. Zombyra, attack that facedown monster!"

Zombyra advanced, revealing Elemental Hero Ice Edge (800 900). The fiend enclosed itself and Ice Edge in its cape, and when the cape re-opened, Ice Edge was gone.

"Now the path is clear for you Black Luster Soldier! End it!"

The blue-plated warrior did just that, bringing its sword down in a slash that would have halved me down the length of my body. I sank to my knees in disappointment as my lifepoints likewise sank to 0.

"So close…"

_Lorenzo's POV_

Shortly after John and Simon had gone to duel, the rest of the group had separated to find matches of our own. So far, in this regard, I had had no luck. Several times I had found a duelist, only for them to recognize my name and back out.

_I guess there are drawbacks to being a top-10 duelist,_ I thought, _Who knew?_

Now, I was walking down a street lined with stores. There were no duelists in sight, only shoppers. My patience was beginning to wear thin, and I was considering using an All-or-Nothing duel to finally get some action.

Suddenly, I hear a loud roar coming from a few streets over. I glanced in that direction and saw a massive three-headed dragon!

_Now this looks like some action…_

Simon's POV

The holograms disappeared when John's lifepoints hit 0. Now, he knelt with his head down across the empty lot from me.

"That was a close one," I commented.

"I'll say."

John and I whipped our heads around to the source of this new voice. At the mouth of the lot stood a girl who appeared to be about our age. She had long curly brown hair, green eyes, a wide smile, and most interestingly a duel disk.

By now, John had stood up and the girl was approaching us. We all moved to meet in the center of our recent dueling field.

"I didn't know anyone was watching," I said, "With the stakes being so low and all."

"Well, I happened by when the tall guy played such a powerful monster, I just had to stay and watch," she said. She was still smiling broadly, with her mouth slightly open. To me, it looked a little creepy.

"Glad I grabbed your interest," the tall guy said, "But who are you?"

"Oh, I'm sorry," she started. By now we had met in the middle of the lot. The girl, who I could now quite easily tell was several inches shorter than me, looked at us and said, "I'm Anna, Anna Gooden."

"Hey, I know you!" I realized, "Or, rather I know of you. You're the top amateur duelist in the Midwest! You must be here for the City Cup!"

"Yep, that's me," she said with a shy smile while holding her duel disk a little higher for us to see.

"What my friend here means to say is," John said with a sidelong glance at me, "My name is John, and this is Simon."

"Nice to meet you guys," she said, but then her eyes widened in realization and she said, "Oh my God, you're the kid that Manni English eliminated at the last minute in last year's Cup!"

"Yeah," I said with some measure of exasperation, "That's me. Can we talk about something else?"

_Lorenzo's POV_

I turned another corner in my attempt to find the Dragon-duelist. I swore he was around the last two corners, but this time was different.

For once, it seemed that I was right. A crowd had gathered which included a camera crew about a block up the street. I figured that this must be the source of the three-headed dragon I had seen earlier.

I casually walked toward the crowd, trying to glimpse what it was surrounding. The holograms had disappeared shortly after the emergence of the monster that had piqued my interest. As I got closer, I realized I would need to shove through the mass of people to reach my target. So shove I did.

When I reached a spot that must have been close to the middle of the crowd, I saw a short guy being interviewed by a woman in front of a camera. He had close-cropped curly black hair and was covered in muscle. The dark-skinned kid was shorter than me, and probably Simon too. Of course, a duel disk rested on his arm.

"Hey!" I called. He broke off his answer to the woman's question and looked at me.

"Did you play that three-headed dragon?" I asked. He merely nodded.

"In that case," I said, brandishing my duel disk, "I challenge you to an All-or-Nothing duel!"

The crowd, which had been providing a buzz of background noise, went dead silent at my proclamation. The interviewer stared at me dumbstruck, as did the cameraman. She quickly regained her composure and began speaking excitedly into her microphone.

"It appears Lorenzo Betancourt, the Fighting Fairy, and 9th ranked duelist in the City Cup has challenged Taylor Miller, ranked 2nd, to an All-or Nothing duel here on the 1st day of the City Cup Qualifying Round."

I didn't listen very closely to the woman's speech. My opponent looked at me who had a questioning look of his own. Finally, he said in a deep, booming voice "The Taylor accepts your challenge!"

_As if you had a choice,_ I thought, _And what does he mean 'The Taylor'?_

The crowd made space for us, and I noticed several other cameras. I couldn't remember which network Simon said was filming the Cup, but it seemed pretty interested in this duel. I met 'The Taylor' in the middle of the field and we shuffled our decks.

"My name is Taylor, by the way. Taylor Miller," he said quietly.

Startled, I replied, "Lorenzo Betancourt. Nice to meet you." We exchanged decks, cut them, and headed back to our respective sides of the field.

_That was odd. His voice was different just then,_ I thought.

Out loud, I said, "How many points do you have?"

Taylor smiled and answered, "The Taylor has 25 points!" He had switched back to the booming voice. "How many will The Taylor win in this duel?"

Arrogant. He was so going down.

"I have 10 points, if that's what you mean," I spat back. I set the City Cup tracker to the correct point total and plugged it in. It was time to duel.

_Simon's POV_

"Why are we going with her?" I asked John quietly. We were walking behind Anna, who was nattering on ahead. She seemed to misspeak, or say something embarrassing every other sentence, and she often stopped to correct herself, all the while asserting she was in fact a smart person. I wasn't convinced.

Additionally, during our conversation, John had revealed that his two face down cards had been Clay Charge and Mask Change. Clay Charge required that he have Elemental Hero Clayman on the field, and Mask Change was impotent due to my Cursed Seal of Forbidden Spell. He had been bluffing after all.

"She seems nice enough. And you said she was good, so I want to see her duel. Plus, she doesn't know anyone here in New York," he answered just as quietly.

"She's annoying, and we've been walking for half an hour, and she hasn't even asked for a duel with someone," I countered. Bihl just shook his head and re-focused on what Anna was saying.

"…fortunately, my school let out on Friday, or I don't know if I could have competed. Not that I spent much time at my high school because a lot of my classes were dual enrollment at Northwestern. That's the school in Evanston. Not the high school, the college. I did you tell you that I live in Evanston, right?"

"Yes, you did," John said with amusement written all over his face.

I wasn't so amused. "So, are you gonna duel anytime soon?" I asked, earning an elbow from John that Anna didn't detect.

She stopped and turned around to look at us. John towered over her by nearly a foot, but my eyes were about level with the top of her brown ringlets.

"Well, I could duel one of you, but I like you guys," she said and then laughed nervously, "Not like that, I mean, I just met you, and I don't do it with guys I just met. Not that I do it with every guy I know! I mean…I'm not a slut, okay!"

John and I looked at each other and performed some quick silent communication. My expression asked if she was seriously like this all the time, while his said that he found her quite funny.

"Anyway," she continued, "I want to duel, but I don't know who to duel or how to ask someone to duel. I'm kind of a shy person."

"You don't seem too shy with us," I said wryly, earning another elbow.

"Yeah, it's weird," Anna said, "I just met you guys, but I feel so comfortable talking to you. Is it weird for you two?"

"Very," I muttered, earning elbow number 3.

"Not at all," John said with a smile.

"Good," She said brightly with that somewhat-creepy, open-mouthed smile, "I don't want things to be weird. Not that I'm normal or anything. But I'm not weird, either!"

"Of course not." Elbow number 4.

_She better shut up, or I'm going to end up with a few broken ribs,_ I thought.


	6. Chapter 6

**More than Meets the Eye; TvL, AvE**

_Lorenzo's POV_

As Taylor and I took our positions, I reached under my shirt and grabbed the odd-looking pendant that hung from my neck. I traced the eye design in the middle and ran my hand by all five of the trinket's attached appendages, as I did before every official duel.

"Are you gonna play with a necklace, or are you gonna duel?" Taylor called.

"I'm here to duel," I answered a little peeved. The holographic coin materialized over the field. "I'll call heads," I declared. The coin flipped and landed on tails causing me to curse.

"The Taylor will end this quickly," my boisterous opponent said as we drew our starting hands. He drew a sixth card and said, "The Taylor calls his mighty Dragon Golem (200 2000) to the field in defense mode!" A large brown stone dragon announced itself with a loud roar. Taylor roared with his dragon, howling at the sky. Then, he said, "The Taylor will show mercy and end his turn."

Is this guy for real? I thought, This necklace better be lucky, because I need to kick this guy's ass. I touched the center of my good luck charm and drew my card.

"Perfect!" I declared, "I activate the magic of Valhalla, Hall of the Fallen!" A huge columned structure enclosed by red curtains rose out of the ground behind me.

"The Taylor is unimpressed with your puny building."

"This 'puny building' has a strong power. When I have no monsters on the field, like right now, I can special summon one Fairy type monster from my hand," I explained, "Now, I will use that power to special summon Gellenduo (1700 0)."

My monster appeared, one pink and one green fairy with oddly shaped heads and halos around their bodies. "Next, I sacrifice Gellenduo in order to summon Wingweaver (2750 2400)!" The six-winged, purple-haired fairy gracefully stepped onto the battlefield.

My opponent smiled condescendingly and said, "The Taylor is not afraid of your Fairies."

"Well maybe he should be!" I replied, "Wingweaver destroy Golem Dragon!" She fired a powerful pulse of light energy that completely obliterated the dragon. "I end my turn."

Taylor drew, looked at his card, and said, "The Taylor will show the Fighting Fairy some real power! Come forth, Lord of D. (1200 1100)!" The caped and skeletally armored Spellcaster appeared on Taylor's side of the field.

_Crap, _I thought, _if he has that card then he's probably gonna play…_

"Now that the Lord of D. is on the field, the Flute of Summoning Dragon can be activated!" Taylor stated. He then played his magic card, causing the instrument to appear in his monster's hands. The Lord of D. played two clear notes, and shortly two more dragons emerged on the field, one to either side of the flute-wielder. To his left, was a gray, possibly ephemeral serpent like dragon, and to his right, was a huge white-blue dragon, which let out a booming roar, echoed by its master.

"The Taylor would like to introduce his opponent to Divine Dragon Ragnarok (1500 1000)," he indicated the dragon on the left, "And the Blue-Eyes White Dragon (3000 2500)!" he yelled as he indicated the dragon on the right.

_Oh, no, _I thought worriedly, _He has enough fire-power to take out Wingweaver and a chunk of my lifepoints!_

_Simon's POV_

"…so I used the laptop to kill the spider, which was on my desk," Anna was saying, "The laptop broke, and I had to get a new one. I guess it was a pretty stupid thing to do, not that I'm dumb or anything!"

"No, not at all," I muttered sarcastically. John, however, heard me and delivered another elbow to my ribs. By now, I had lost count of the jabs. We had walked another few blocks, but Anna still hadn't found an opponent. I was losing patience and tolerance for pain and considered challenging her myself.

_She may seem like an annoying airhead, but she's too good to take on this early,_ I mentally reminded myself.

"Simon?"

"Huh? What was that?" I asked. I must have slipped too deep into my thoughts and missed Anna addressing me directly.

"What's that golden rod…thing at your waist?" she asked.

"What, this?" I indicated my good-luck charm, which was hanging from a belt loop in my shorts. "This is my good-luck charm. I carry it around when I duel."

"Does it have a name?" she asked, "Because when I asked you about it, I didn't know what to call, and calling it a rod hanging from your waist is weird, ya know? Not that I'm a perve or anything," she finished with an embarrassed laugh and a blush.

"She has a point," John said into the sudden awkward silence, "It should have a name."

"I've always just called it my good-luck charm," I responded, "But if you guys want to go ahead and name it, that's fine with me."

"Hmmm…" Anna began, "How about the Dueling Stick?"

"How about no," I replied.

"SGLC?" John proposed, "An acronym for Simon's good-luck charm?"

"Not bad, but we can do better."

"Like your dueling skills?"

I would have punched him in the shoulder, but he's a lot bigger than me, so I settled for glaring at him.

"Oooooooohhh, I've got it!" Anna said excitedly, "Victory Rod!"

I considered this for a moment and said, "That's not bad. I guess we can try that."

"Yea!" Anna cried excitedly, unleashing her creepy smile.

With that matter settled, we walked in relative quiet for another block before rounding a corner and encountering a crowd of people. I spotted a few duel disks in the now dispersing crowd and even a television camera.

"A duel must have just ended," John observed.

"Hey Anna, there's probably an opponent for you around here," I said.

She shrugged nonchalantly and responded, "Maybe."

By now, the crowd had mostly dissipated revealing a stern looking teenage girl wearing a duel disk in the center of the street. The girl was tall, maybe six foot, with shoulder length blonde hair. She wore a black jacket with the sleeves clearly having been torn off, pants that were similarly torn at the knees, and (for some reason) eye black.

"Alright," she yelled at the duelists who had remained behind, which now included our group, "Who's next?"

"Hey, Anna-?" I said, looking beside me. She had just been beside me.

"Anna?" I said now looking all around, "There you are! You can duel her!"

Anna was now ducked behind John and I. "No, no, no. I don't want to duel her," she said softly.

"And why not?" John asked.

"She's scary."

My palm found my forehead with an audible smack. "You know," I said, trying to keep the annoyance out of my voice, "this isn't a physical confrontation."

"Still scary."

I audibly sighed and glanced sideways at John. He just shrugged and stood still, continuing to hide Anna. I took his cue, crossing my arms in irritation.

Scary-Girl surveyed the crowd, her eyes scanning from side to side. She swept over every duelist several times, before her eyes alighted on Bihl and I. We both pointed at ourselves with somewhat-surprised looks on our faces. She shook her head, and motioned for us to step aside. We did so (she really was kinda scary) revealing a huddled Anna.

"Her," Scary decided.

Anna realized what was going on and looked around nervously. "W-who, m-m-me?" she stammered.

"Yes, you. We're dueling. All-or-Nothing! Now!" the bigger girl growled. She then stalked away to where she had been dueling before in the middle of the street.

"I guess I don't have a choice…" Anna mumbled. She tried to set her face in grim determination, but failed miserably. Still, she reached into a pocket and pulled out a deck. Slotting it into her duel disk, she walked to the predetermined battlefield.

"Hey," John said to me, "There's plenty of duelists here. I'm gonna see if I can get a match in."

"Suit yourself," I replied, "I wanna watch her. See if she's as good as internet says she is."

"Alright, then," John said and wandered into the crowd. I followed Anna toward her dueling site, where another crowd was beginning to coalesce. I ended up standing next to another duelist at the front of the crowd, near the middle of the field.

"Hey, do you know anything about the short girl?" the guy asked me.

"Yeah, her name is Anna Gooden. She's a nationally ranked duelist from Illinois," I informed him, "What about tall and mean?"

"Her name is Emma Winslow. I saw her last duel, She's brutal," He said, wincing for emphasis.

_Well, this ought to be interesting,_ I thought.

_Lorenzo's POV_

The situation looked grim for me. I was defending myself against Taylor's trio of monsters with a lone fairy of my own.

Taylor threw his head back and laughed, "Ha, ha, ha, now that Blue-Eyes has been unleashed, The Taylor's victory has been assured! Blue-Eyes, attack Wingweaver! White Lightning!"

The dragon roared once again and began charging a white ball of energy in its mouth. The ball extended into a beam which tore through my last line of defense.

"Now, Divine Dragon Ragnarok and Lord of D., attack directly!"

The transparent dragon flew forward and bit through me, followed by the Lord of D. throwing a punch through my midsection. When all was said and done, my lifepoints had fallen to 5050.

"The Taylor is finished with you…for now," Taylor concluded.

The situation looked bad, but I had some things in my favor. Valhalla, Hall of the Fallen was still active while Taylor had no magic or trap cards on the field. He also had just two cards in his hand which was less than my three. And after my draw, I'll have four cards. Now that I had pumped myself up, I made my draw.

_Perfect._

"I use the effect of Valhalla to special summon Nova Summoner (1400 800) in defense mode," I said, "Then I'll set another monster and place one card face down. Your move."

Taylor drew his card and grinned wickedly when he saw it.

"Your stalling won't work on The Taylor!" he declared, "For he has a drawn a card that will end this duel! Polymerization!" he finished, playing the magic card. A swirling vortex appeared on the field, sucking in Divine Dragon Ragnarok and Lord of D. The monsters swirled together, and eventually disappeared. Out of the vortex emerged a new dragon. This dragon was nearly as big as Blue-Eyes, with yellow skin, black wings, and a smoky white mane.

"Lorenzo, meet King Dragun (2400 1100)! He will lead The Taylor to victory!" Taylor claimed.

"Why is that?" I asked, "Looks to me like he's weaker than your Blue-Eyes."

"True, King Dragun may not have as many attack points as the Blue-Eyes White Dragon," Taylor intoned, "But his effect gives him immense power! When King Dragun is on the field, you cannot select any Dragon-Type monsters as the target of spell, trap, or monster card effects. Plus, once per turn, I can special summon one Dragon-Type monster from my hand. So whatever trap you set, won't work. Now, The Taylor can special summon Cave Dragon (2000 100) in attack mode!" A thick green and yellow dragon now appeared on Taylor's side of the field. "And now it's time to attack! Cave Dragon, destroy that face-down monster!"

"Don't forget about my trap!" I cried, "I activate Fairy Box!" My trap card flipped face-up, and revealed a stylized purple box with several holes in the top. It resembled a carnival game. My monster's disappeared inside the box.

"The Taylor did not forget about your puny trap," my opponent countered, "But it looks like you forgot King Dragun's effect."

"Not at all," I shot back, "Your King Dragun prevents me from targeting Dragon's with card effects, but Fairy Box doesn't target."

"What!?" he cried.

"Allow me to explain," I continued, "When you attack, I toss a coin. If I call it wrong, the attack continues as usual. If I call it right, your monster's attack is reduced to 0!" A holographic coin appeared in the middle of the field, the same one that began duels. "Here goes, I call heads!"

The coin was 'tossed' into the air. It flipped several times, but ultimately landed on its tails side.

"Ha!" Taylor said, "Cave Dragon, destroy that pathetic face-down!" Cave Dragon blew a powerful stream of air from its mouth, flipping over Fairy Dragon (1100 1200) and blowing it to bits.

"So, you got lucky once. Do you really want to push it?" I asked.

"Hmph, The Taylor isn't afraid of your game of chance. King Dragun, attack Nova Summoner!"

The coin once again appeared, and once again I called heads. The coin was flipped and unlike last time, landed on heads. King Dragun was still forced to attack, launching a dark pulse of energy from its mouth at my defense-mode monster. The energy struck Nova Summoner and dissipated, and Taylor's lifepoints fell to 7200.

"Care to try again?" I asked mockingly.

"Blue-Eyes, white lightning!" he shouted without hesitation.

"Tails!"

The coin was again flipped. Unfortunately, it landed on heads once more. Blue-Eyes' attack tore through Nova Summoner, sending it straight to the graveyard.

"By destroying my monster, you've activated its effect," I said, "Which allows me to summon another Light attribute Fairy-type monster with an attack of 1500 or less from my deck. So I special summon another Nova Summoner in defense mode."

"Eventually," Taylor began, "You'll run out of monster's to protect your lifepoints. You can't stall forever."

I glared back at him as I drew my card. "Who's stalling?" I retorted, "First, I must pay 500 lifepoints during my standby phase to keep Fairy Box active." My lifepoints dropped to 4550 to resolve the matter. "Next, I activate the field magic of The Sanctuary in the Sky!" A bright white cloud formed over the playing field. From the cloud, emanated a blindingly bright light. Taylor and the spectators were forced to shield their eyes.

"Behold the instrument of my salvation!" I cried, my arms spread to the heavens, "My Sanctuary will protect my fairies and my lifepoints! Observe!"

The light subsided, allowing Taylor and the crowd to uncover their eyes. What they saw made them gasp, even Taylor. On top of the cloud was a gleaming stone palace complete with a huge statue of an angel overlooking the sanctuary.

"Whoa," Taylor breathed.

"And it's not just a pretty building," I said, "It holds immense power. For, as long as this card is on the field, Battle Damage to the controller of a Fairy-type monster from a battle involving that Fairy-Type monster becomes 0."

Taylor looked thoughtful as I said this. He seemed to be pondering what I had said…until he began to roar with laughter.

"What's so funny?" I asked with some measure of irritation.

Taylor's laughter subsided, and he stopped to catch his breath before replying, "Nothing, Fighting Fairy, nothing is funny. The Taylor is merely glad that now this will be a truly memorable duel. Do your worst!"

"Be careful what you wish for! Now, I switch Nova Summoner into attack mode!"

"Hmmm…"

"And now," I continued, "Nova Summoner attack Cave Dragon!"

"WHAT!?" Taylor exclaimed. Meanwhile, Nova Summoner fired a white beam from its center, and Cave Dragon countered with a gust from its mouth. The gust easily overpowered my Fairy's attack, and destroyed it in the process.

"Why would you do that?" Taylor asked, still shocked, "You don't lose lifepoints, and you can summon another monster in its place, but not a stronger one. What was the point?" Just then, a beam of light erupted from the Sanctuary, once again blinding all but myself.

"Once more, I will show you the power of The Sanctuary in the Sky!" I declared, or rather, from everyone else's perspective, my silhouette declared, "When Nova Summoner is destroyed by battle when The Sanctuary is on the field, I can special summon a mighty angelic warrior!"

The light coalesced into the shape of a large armored fairy. When the light subsided, it revealed an angel wielding a sword and shield and wearing yellow and blue armor.

"Meet the powerful Airknight Parshath (1900 1400)!" The crowd 'oohed' and 'awwed' but Taylor looked rather unimpressed by my display.

"The 'mighty' Airknight would be a meal for King Dragun, let alone Blue-Eyes," he said.

"We'll see," I replied, "I place one card face-down, and end my turn."

_Simon's POV _

"I call tails!" yelled Emma Winslow when the holographic coin appeared. Sure enough, the coin landed on tails.

"Ha, I go first." Both the beastly girl and the now visibly shaking Anna drew their opening hands, and Emma drew a sixth card.

"I'm gonna chew you up and spit you out, girl!" she yelled, "To begin, I summon Amazoness Archer (1400 1000) in attack mode! Next, I set one card face-down!"

_She isn't one for volume control, _I thought as I rubbed my now sore ears.

"Your move, pipsqueak!" Emma finished.

Anna was now quite clearly terrified. The monster that the Winslow girl summoned was not helping matters. The female archer had an arrow aimed straight at Anna's head and was looking into her eyes with a menacing glare. Anna trembled as she drew her card.

"I…uh...I play…no, not that…ummm…" she muttered.

"HAHAHA! Scared, little girl?" Winslow scoffed, "You should be! No matter what cards you play, my Amazoness Archer will tear you apart next turn!"

Anna closed her eyes and turned her head. She took a deep breath and once again looked into the eyes of her opponent. This scared her enough that she squeaked and quickly turned away.

"HA! Make your move or surrender, wimp! I don't have time for this!"

Anna looked at the six cards she held and then at her deck. Slowly, her hand crept toward her deck.

"ANNA!"

She froze, stunned, and looked at the source of the voice: me.

"Listen to me!" I continued, "You can beat her! She may look scary, and trust me she does-

"EXCUSE ME!"

"-but she can't hurt you! You've beaten duelists like her in your sleep! You won the Chicago Amateur Invitational! You're gonna be a sophomore in college next year, and this girl couldn't spell sophomore if you told her there was a '-ph' in it."

"You think so?" Anna asked.

"Yeah, look at her, she doesn't seem very bright," I answered.

"Not about the spelling! About me?" she said.

"That, too!"

Anna took a deep breath and stared down Emma. "Alright, I'm going to start dueling now, and I'm going to win!" She then turned to me and added, "Thank you."

Emma looked at me as well, but her look was not one of kindness. It was one of rage.

"When I'm done with her, you're next!" she fumed.

"Bring it," I said coldly.

"I hate to cut in," Anna spoke up, "But I have a move to make!"


	7. Chapter 7

**More than Meets the Eye pt. 2**

_Simon's POV_

Anna now had a determined look in her eyes. The fear that had been there mere moments ago was gone. Still, she had to be careful. Her opponent, Emma Winslow, had her Amazoness Archer in attack mode as well as a face-down card to back it up.

"I summon my Gladiator Beast Dimacari (1600 1200)!" announced Anna. This was the first time I had seen any of her monsters, and this one looked quite odd. It was a purple bull standing on two legs with metal gauntlets and boots, but when Anna played, a warm smile came over her face.

"And since my monster is stronger than yours," and here she pointedly stared at the Amazoness Archer and her still-aimed arrow, "I'll have Dimacari attack."

The bull charged and pulled back a fist to strike. Metal spikes popped out of the front of its gauntlet as it struck.

"Not so fast, girl!" Winslow cried, "I activate my trap card, Amazoness Archers! I can only activate this card when I have an "Amazoness" monster on my side of the field! It drops the attack of your monsters by 500 and forces you to attack!"

_Oh no,_ I thought, _Anna forgot about the trap card!_

"Now, my Archer can take down your mad bull!" Emma said.

"Not after I play this quick-play magic card from my hand, Indomitable Gladiator Beast!" Anna countered.

_She had her own trap, after a fashion. Way to go!_

"This card increases the attack of a Gladiator Beast monster by 500 points. So it looks like we're back where we started."

Purple-Bull Monster again swung its spiked-gauntleted fist, connecting and shattering the Archer into thousands of tiny pieces. The attack dropped Emma's lifepoints to 7800.

"You'll pay for that!" the bigger girl yelled in rage as she reached to draw a card.

"That will have to wait," Anna said, "Because it is still my turn."

"Grrr…" Emma growled as she removed her hand from her deck.

"Now, where was I?" continued Anna, "Ah, yes, I set one card, then I activate the effect of Gladiator Beast Dimacari. If this card battles, by returning it from the field to the deck at the end of the battle phase, I can special summon one Gladiator Beast monster from my deck, except Gladiator Beast Dimacari. So, I return my monster back to my deck, and special summon Gladiator Beast Alexander (2400 800)."

Alexander turned out to be a golden lion with similarly colored armor. It too stood on two legs, and its armor seemed to have folded up wings to either side.

"And since he was special summoned, Alexander is unaffected by magic cards," Anna added. Now, the young girl was positively beaming with her wide smile that was still creeping me out.

"Are you done _now_?" rasped Emma. Anna nodded, and I learned that it was possible for someone to angrily draw a card.

_Sheesh, this girl must not be accustomed to being outplayed,_ I mused.

"I'll set one monster and one card face-down!" Emma said, "Your turn, chump!"

_She has an endless array of bad insults,_ I mentally noted.

Anna didn't seem too torn up about the jabs. She drew and immediately played her new card.

"I play Pot of Greed, allowing me to draw two more cards," she said, then drew. She studied her new cards carefully, and then smiled.

"Now I play Gladiator Beast Retiari (1200 800)!" Anna's monster appeared to be a humanoid lizard with a trident and pieces of blue and gold armor.

"And I'm not done yet. I special summon Test Tiger (600 300)!" This time, Anna had summoned a relatively normal looking monster. It was a tiger with red and blue armor on its back, but this animal stood on four legs and was much smaller than her other monsters.

"When I control at least one Gladiator Beast monster, I can special common Test Tiger from my hand," Anna explained, "And there's more to this cat than meets than eye. I can tribute this card to target one face-up Gladiator Beast monster I control and shuffle it into my deck, then special summon one Gladiator Beast from my deck, and treat it as if it was special summoned by the effect of a Gladiator Beast monster."

"Just get on with it!" Emma said.

"As you wish. I sacrifice Test Tiger in order to send Retiari back to my deck to summon Gladiator Beast Bestiari (1500 800)!"

This new Gladiator Beast was a green bird with red plumage and green armor. It screeched as it replaced Retiari and Test Tiger on the field.

"And," Anna continued, "Since Bestiari was summoned by the effect of a Gladiator Beast, it gets a special effect: It can destroy one spell or trap card on the field, and I choose your face down card!"

"No!" Emma roared.

Bestiari flew forward and struck at the face-down card. The card was shredded and disappeared from the field.

"Now I'm free to attack!" Anna declared, "Bestiari, attack that face down monster!"

The bird again advanced and attacked, revealing the Amazoness Chain Master (1500 1300).

"Ha! You've activated my Chain Master's effect!" Emma cheered, "When she is destroyed by battle, I can pay 1500 lifepoints to look at your hand and take one monster and add it to my own hand!"

"Fine, here," Anna said dejectedly and showed Emma her hand.

"Hmmm…That one! Gladiator Beast Andal!" Emma decided. The Chain Master threw a chain at Anna's card, seemingly impaling it. The two girls met in the middle of the field, and Anna handed over her monster. Emma's lifepoints dropped to 6300.

"I'll get it back, you'll see!" Anna cried, "But for now, it's still my turn, and you have nothing protecting your lifepoints. So, Gladiator Beast Alexander, attack her directly."

"Wha-Urgh!" Emma was surprised and instinctively flinched at the hologram's attack. This brought a satisfying smirk to Anna's face.

"And I place one card face down and end my turn," Anna concluded.

"Alright, bitch, it's on now!" Emma yelled, "I summon Gladiator Beast Andal (1900 1500)!"

Andal was a gray colored bear with purple armor. It also had a matching purple eye patch. Like the other Gladiator Beasts, it stood on two legs.

"Next, I'll equip Andal with the United We Stand magic card! This card increases my monster's attack by 800 points for every face up monster on my side of the field!" she explained.

"So just 800 then," Anna surmised.

"That's more than enough to beat your Gladiator Beast Alexander! Andal, attack," Emma commanded.

"Oh no you don't! I activate my face down card, Defense Tactics!" Anna countered.

"What!?" cried a surprised Emma.

"This trap can only be activated when I control a Gladiator Beast monster. It prevents Gladiator Beasts from being destroyed by battle this turn. It also reduces all battle damage I take this turn to 0," explained Anna.

Andal's attack continued and the bear smashed the lion with a mighty fist, but because of Anna's trap card nothing happened. Emma fumed, but with no other options, she ended her turn.

To begin her turn, Anna drew a card, and her eyes lit up when she was what it was.

"Alright! I'm going to win this duel on this turn!" Anna declared.

"How? My monster is still more powerful than yours!" Emma pointed out.

"That's _my_ monster," Anna replied darkly, "And this card will make it so. I activate Gladiator Taming!"

"And what does that do?"

"This magic card has two effects. The first, allows me to select one face-up monster you control, and change its battle position. But, I'm going to use the second, allowing me to select one face-up Gladiator Beast monster you control, and take control of it until the end phase," Anna explained.

"NO! THAT MEANS I'LL LOSE!" roared Emma.

"Yeah, it does," Anna replied, "Now, Gladiator Beast Andal, return to your rightful owner!"

Andal obeyed, crossing the field to stand alongside Anna monsters and leave Emma defenseless.

"Now my monsters, attack her directly!" Anna commanded. Alexander, Andal, and Bestiari advanced and attacked Emma. The combined attacks left a plume of smoke surrounding her. When it cleared up, she had sagged to her knees and hung her head as her lifepoints fell to 0.

_Lorenzo's POV_

"It's time for The Taylor to make his move now," Taylor said. He drew his card, giving him two cards in his hand. In addition, he had two cards on the field, his monsters, King Dragun and Blue-Eyes White Dragon. Both of which had attacks exceeding that of my only monster, Airknight Parshath. Luckily, I had two traps to back him up, one face down and the active Fairy Box.

The sound of my opponent's voice snapped me back to the action, "Spirit Ryu (1000 1000), join the battle!"

This new dragon was much smaller than the other and had a blue hide with a beige underbelly. The 'roar' it emitted didn't sound nearly as threatening or scary as the monsters' in Taylor's deck. And, with its low stats, Airknight Parshath would easily vanquish it.

"Now, to activate Spirit Ryu's effect!"

"Effect!?"

"That's right," Taylor gloated, "If I attack with Spirit Ryu, I can discard a Dragon-type monster from my hand in order to double its attack and defense to 2000 points! So, Spirit Ryu, attack Airknight Parshath!"

Taylor discarded his last card to the graveyard, and Spirit Ryu immediately doubled in size. This time, the dragon's roar was much more intimidating. But, before it could attack, the holographic coin appeared on the field.

"Did you forget about Fairy Box?" I teased, "I call heads!" The coin was flipped and when it was once again on the ground, it was tails side up.

"Ryu, destroy Parshath!" Taylor ordered. The blue dragon flapped its wings, sending a powerful gust of wind at my hapless monster.

"I activate Graceful Dice!" I cried. Suddenly, a small fairy with a large die appeared. Then, the fairy tossed the die in the air

"What happened?" Taylor asked in disbelief.

"My first trap failed, so I used my backup plan," I replied, "When Graceful Dice is activated, I roll a die and increase my monster's attack by 100 times the number I rolled."

The die landed and rolled. When it came to a rest, the face showed five pips.

"That means that for the rest of this turn, Parshath's attack is 2400!" I explained.

"No, Spirit Ryu!" Airknight Parshath blocked the gust attack with his shield and counterattacked with his sword, neatly slicing Ryu in half, dropping Taylor's lifepoints to 6800.

"Now, Parshath's effect kicks in. Since it caused battle damage to you, I get to draw a card," I added.

"A clever move, Fighting Fairy, but now only a coin stands between Blue-Eyes and the Airknight," Taylor said, "Blue-Eyes White Dragon, unleash your white lightning attack!"

"Heads!" I called once the coin appeared. This time, lucked smiled upon me and the coin landed on heads.

"No! Blue-Eyes!" Taylor roared.

The white lightning attack was easily blocked by Parshath, who proceeded to destroy the powerful Dragon in similar fashion to Spirit Ryu. Taylor sagged to his knees at the loss of his monster, and his lifepoints likewise sagged to 4400.

"Are you okay?" I asked.

"My…Blue-Eyes…" he said quietly.

"Hey, it's not the end of the world, alright. It's just a card." I responded.

"You don't understand! The Blue-Eyes White Dragon is more than a card to me!" Taylor angrily retorted. His eyes were alight with anger and determination.

"Make your move," he growled.

Wordlessly, I drew my card. Thanks to the effect of Airknight Parshath, I had drawn twice on my opponent's turn, once when Parshath took down Spirit Ryu and again when it defeated Blue Eyes. Now, I held three cards after ending my last turn with none. Taylor had no cards in his hand, but still had King Dragun defending his lifepoints.

_I wonder why he got so torn up about that Blue-Eyes,_ I thought, _There's something deeper there. I get the 'connection' with your favorite monster thing. But this is something else. He even used first-person!_

"The Taylor told you to make your move!"

_And he's back_.

"First, I pay 500 lifepoints to keep Fairy Box active," I said as my lifepoints became 4050, " Now, it's time to take out your last line of defense," I stated, "Airknight Parshath, attack King Dragun!"

"Ha! The Fighting Fairy forgot that his monster's attack is no longer boosted by Graceful Dice," Taylor scoffed.

"No, it isn't. But, it's about to be boosted by this quick-play magic card: Ego Boost!" I shot back.

"Shit, not again!"

"This card boosts a monster's attack by 1000 for the rest of the turn. And of course, I choose to boost Airknight Parshath's attack." The magic card kicked in, causing Parshath's body to enlarge, rivaling the size of King Dragun. Then, Parshath swing its sword and separated Dragun's head from the rest of its body. The attack caused Taylor's lifepoints to fall again to 3900. It also allowed me to draw another card.

"That ends my turn," I concluded.

"Now, it's time to pay for destroying The Taylor's dragons," he threatened as he drew, "And this card is perfect: Monster Reborn!"

"I guess you'll get your Blue-Eyes White Dragon back, huh?" I assumed.

"The Taylor has something much better in mind," he countered, "Be reborn, Darkblaze Dragon (1200 1000)!"

A skinny smoke-and-fire colored dragon with broad wings emerged from the ground to hover over Taylor's side of the field.

"I'm confused," I admitted, "That Dragon is weaker than my monster, and you have much stronger monsters in your graveyard. Plus, when did Darkblaze Dragon get in the graveyard?"

"I discarded Darkblaze Dragon for Spirit Ryu's effect. And as for why it over the other monsters, Darkblaze Dragon has a useful twofold effect," Taylor explained, "First, when it's special summoned from the graveyard, its original attack and defense double (2400 2000). And second, when this card destroys a monster by battle and sends it to the graveyard, it inflicts damage to my opponent equal to the attack of the destroyed monster."

"And The Sanctuary in the Sky doesn't protect against effect damage," I finished.

"Exactly," Taylor confirmed, "Now Darkblaze Dragon, rid the field of Airknight Parshath!"

"Hold on! Time for the coin toss. Tails!" Fairy Box failed to stop the attack, as the coin came up heads.

The resurrected dragon released a ball of black frame that obliterated Airknight Parshath, and a chunk of my lifepoints leaving me with 2150.

"My turn then," I said once the smoke cleared.

_This good-luck charm better be giving me good luck_, I thought as I drew.

"Okay, I pay 500 lifepoints to keep Fairy Box active," I began, and my lifepoints dropped to 1650, "But now I activate the magic card Supremacy Berry, which, when I'm losing, increases my lifepoints by 2000!" My lifepoints shot back up to 3650. "Not too shabby, if I do say so myself."

"You still have my Dragon to deal with," Taylor reminded me.

"For that, I set one monster and end my turn," I said.

"Defense mode won't help you," Taylor said as he drew a card, "Darkblaze Dragon's effect still applies."

"Well, you'll have to win a coin toss for your attack to work," I retorted.

"Not quite," he said, "The Taylor plays Stamping Destruction! This magic card can only be activated if The Taylor controls a Dragon-type monster. Now, it destroys one magic or trap card on the field, like Fairy Box."

A giant reptilian foot materialized over the Fairy Box. The foot suddenly and powerfully stomped on the Box, utterly crushing it, and somehow causing my lifepoints to go down to 3650.

"What the hell?"

"Stamping Destruction also inflicts 500 points of damage to the owner of the magic or trap card," Taylor now explained.

"Thanks for mentioning that," I said dryly, like Simon would.

"Now that that's out of the way, Darkblaze Dragon, attack his face down monster!"

The dark fireball struck, revealing a red mechanical fairy with a gold design similar to the symbol on my good luck charm. It also destroyed said red mechanical fairy and my lifepoints fell to 2150.

"That monster was Agido (1500 1300)," I said, "And when its destroyed and sent to the graveyard as a result of battle, I roll a die and I can special summon a Fairy-type monster whose level is equal to the number I rolled from the graveyard."

"Another game of chance," Taylor deadpanned.

A holographic die was shown in the middle of the field. The die was 'tossed' into the air, spinning. It landed and eventually settled on a four.

"Perfect," I said happily, "Welcome back Nova Summoner, in attack mode."

"The Taylor will once again destroy that puny monster next turn, but for now I end my turn."

_If I don't get something good on this draw, he's gonna wipe me out next turn,_ I thought and gripped my good luck charm through my shirt, _This thing better be lucky!_

I slowly drew my card and looked at it for a good while.

"I set one card face down and end my turn," I said.

"Let's finish this," Taylor said as he drew his card, "Darkblaze Dragon, attack!"

"_Wrong move_!" I cried, "Activate trap, Lumenize!" Nova Summoner began to glow, and the fireball that Darkblaze Dragon had been preparing died.

"What did you do?" asked a bewildered Taylor.

"My Lumenize trap card negates the attack of your Dragon," I explained, "And there's more: Until my next end phase, one Light monster I control gains attack points equal to the attack of the monster whose attack was negated. So, Nova Summoner's attack is increased by 2400!"

"But…it's stronger than Darkblaze Dragon!" Taylor realized.

"True, but there's a catch: My monster is also destroyed at my next end phase, so I better make this turn count!" I drew my card and cried, "Nova Summoner, attack!" My monster fired a powerful white beam that made Taylor wince and cover his eyes. By the time he looked at the field again, his monster was gone, and with it, a piece of his lifepoints leaving him at 2500.

"You may have destroyed The Taylor's monster," he began, "But once you end your turn, your monster will be destroyed, and your lifepoints will be wide open!"

"Not exactly," I countered, "I sacrifice Nova Summoner in order to summon Tethys, the Goddess of Light (2400 1800)!" The glow around Nova Summoner grew until everyone had to shield their eyes. When the light faded, there stood a gleaming white fairy with pieces of golden armor.

"Tethys will defend my lifepoints, since she is unaffected by Lumenize," I said.

"Once more, The Taylor is surprised by the Fighting Fairy," he said, "The Taylor will stop underestimating his worthy opponent."

"Thank you," I said, somewhat taken aback, "Your turn."

Taylor drew, and quickly showed me the card.

"Pot of Greed," he announced, "Allowing The Taylor to draw two cards." He did this, and stared at the three cards he now held. Wordlessly, he set two cards face down in his magic and trap card zones.

"Your move," he finally said.

_I wonder what he just played. He made it seem significant_, I mused as I drew to begin my turn. Without any monsters in my hand, there was only one move to make.

"Tethys, attack him directly!" I called.

She formed a ball of light between her hands, and fired it at Taylor, leaving him with a mere 100 lifepoints. Oddly, he hadn't activated his face down cards to defend himself.

"Better get a good draw, or next turn it's over," I said.

"The Taylor does not lose!" he declared, the fire back in his eyes. He drew his card enthusiastically and held it up for all to see: Graceful Charity. I cursed under my breath.

"By your swearing, The Taylor assumes you know what this card does," he said jokingly. Maybe it wasn't under my breath after all. Taylor played the card and drew three more cards before discarding two of them. Then, he started laughing.

"Ha ha ha HA HA HA! Prepare yourself, Fighting Fairy, for The Taylor will now summon his most powerful Dragon with the use of the magic card Dragon's Mirror!" Taylor cried.

A large gold framed mirror was now on Taylor's side of the field. I stared at it in wonder.

"By removing fusion material monsters from my side of the field or in the graveyard that form a Dragon-type fusion monster, I can fusion summon that monster," he explained. Three translucent forms of the Blue-Eyes White Dragon appeared around the Mirror and were sucked into the glass.

"Where did those Blue-Eyes come from?" I asked, alarmed, as I watched the now swirling glass.

"You destroyed one. The other two were discarded by the effect of Graceful Charity. Now, emerge, _Blue-Eyes Ultimate Dragon_ (4500 3800)!"

I watched in awe as a gigantic three-headed version of the Blue-Eyes White Dragon stepped out of the Mirror and roared louder than any of Taylor's previous Dragons. Taylor's roar was just as loud.

"Say goodbye to the City Cup, Fighting Fairy!" Taylor said, "No one can defeat my Ultimate Dragon!"


	8. Chapter 8

**More Than Meets the Eye pt. 3; TvL, MvK, CvD**

_John's POV_

I walked back through the crowd until I found Simon. It looked like Anna's duel had been a little quicker than mine. I found Simon around the spot where said duel had occurred.

"Where's Anna?" I asked. In response, Simon merely pointed to the middle of the street, where I could see a camera crew. In the middle of that mess, I noticed that Anna was being interviewed. By the smile on her face, I could tell that she had won.

"How'd it go?" Simon asked.

"Fine. I dueled some guy who had barely made it into the Cup. Easy ten points," I replied. Simon nodded, and turned back to Anna who was apparently done with her interview and was making her way back to us.

"I'm _so_ hungry," was the first thing she said followed by, "Oh, John, did you win? I did! It was awesome!"

"That's great Anna," I said, "And yes, I did win."

"Yay! Now, _food_!" she cried.

"I'll text the guys to meet at us at The Retreat," Simon suggested, "It isn't too far from here."

"Sounds good," I agreed.

"The Retreat? That better be a restaurant! I don't mess around when it comes to food!" Anna informed us.

I glanced at Simon, expecting an eye-roll or some other expression of annoyance, but instead he wore a small smile.

_Lorenzo's POV_

In the game of Duel Monsters, having a lead of 2050 lifepoints was almost always a good thing. Likewise, bringing your opponent down to 100 lifepoints basically guaranteed victory. But, as I stared at the monstrous three-headed Dragon before me, the score didn't really seem to matter.

Taylor had just managed to summon the Blue-Eyes Ultimate Dragon, which was far stronger than my lone monster, Tethys, the Goddess of Light. To make matters worse, I had no other cards to back up my monster while Taylor had two cards face-down.

"None have defeated The Taylor when Blue-Eyes Ultimate Dragon is played!" he informed me.

_This is the same monster I saw before,_ I realized. Now how do I beat it?

"Blue-Eyes, Neutron Blast attack!" Taylor ordered. All three heads powered up attacks similar to a normal Blue-Eyes' attack. The three attacks then combined into something more powerful, then launched at my monster, exploding on impact. When the smoke cleared, Tethys was no more and I was left with 50 lifepoints.

"Next turn," Taylor said, "It ends."

_He's right,_ I thought. What he didn't know was that I had a card in my hand that could take his Ultimate Dragon down. But I needed the right card on this draw to make it work. I gripped my pendant through my shirt with one hand and drew with the other.

"Taylor," I said, "This has been a great duel. It's too bad it's about to end."

"You lived up to your name," Taylor replied, "You fought well, but in the end, none can stand up to The Taylor!"

"Watch me," I responded, "I play Monster Reborn to bring back my old friend, Wingweaver (2750 2400)." The purple-haired angel from the start of this duel rose from the ground to stand before me.

"How nice," Taylor said condescendingly, "The Fighting Fairy has brought his favorite Fairy back to lose with him."

"Not exactly," I retorted, "For I play the magic card Leeching the Light!" The magic card sucked a ball of glowing white energy from Blue-Eyes White Dragon. The energy ball hovered over the field, then made its way toward Wingweaver.

"What's going on!?" Taylor cried, alarm registering in his voice.

"Leeching the Light is a very powerful card. It allows me to choose one Light monster you control and increase the attack of all attack position monsters I control by the attack of the selected monster, until the End Phase. That means, Wingweaver gains 4500 attack points giving her a total of 7250!" I explained.

"Whoa…" he breathed. The energy ball had made its way across the field and was absorbed by my monster.

"Wingweaver, attack the Blue-Eyes Ultimate Dragon and end this duel!" I cried victoriously.

Taylor had quickly regained his wits and was now grinning from ear to ear. _Why is he so happy?_ I wondered. Then it hit me…

"SHIT! Your face downs!"

"The Taylor activates his trap card, Ring of Destruction!" Suddenly a metal ring clamped itself around the neck of Wingweaver, stopping her attack.

"What did you do?" I asked.

"This trap allows me to target one monster and destroy it," he said, "In addition, both players lose lifepoints equal to the attack of that monster."

"But-" I began but was cutoff as the Ring of Destruction suddenly exploded, making an ear-ringing bang and a cloud of dark smoke.

_Manni's POV_

"Go Dark Magician Girl, attack him directly."

The aforementioned sorceress fired an attack from her staff, taking my opponents lifepoints down to 4500. What was his name again? Kenny?

This was my third duel of the day, and each had been All-or-Nothing. My lifepoints still hadn't been touched by my opponents. This was getting too easy.

The television cameras were still here, in spite of (or maybe because of) my dominance. I was used to it by now. It was part of being the best.

"I set one card and end my turn," I finished. Kenny nervously made his draw and looked at the cards in his hand. He had nothing left on the field to help him.

"I summon Chainsaw Insect (2400 0) in attack mode," he said, "Attack his Dark Magician Girl!"

"I don't think so," I said, "I activate Shadow Spell." Suddenly, Chainsaw Insect was encased and immobilized by numerous chains. "Shadow Spell reduces your monster's attack by 700 and prevents it from attacking or changing battle position," I elaborated.

"Crap!" exclaimed Kenny.

"My turn," I surmised and accordingly drew a card. This was too easy.

"I play Sage's Stone," I said, "Since I have Dark Magician Girl on my side of the field, this card allows me to special summon Dark Magician (2500 2100) from my hand or deck."

My trademark red Dark Magician emerged and took his place next to his female counterpart. While Dark Magician Girl was smiling, the Dark Magician's face was emotionless.

"Next, I play Knight's Title," I continued, "This card allows me to sacrifice Dark Magician in order to summon Dark Magician Knight (2500 2100) from my hand, deck, or graveyard." Dark Magician's typical attire shifted until it resembled a suit of armor and his staff became a sword that glowed with magical energy.

"Now, I activate the effect of Dark Magician Knight. When he is special summoned, I can destroy one card on the field," I informed poor Kenny. Dark Magician Knight swung his sword, cleaving Chainsaw Insect in two.

"Finally, my monsters can attack you directly," I finished.

"No!" Kenny screamed as my Magicians hit him with their respective attacks, costing him all of his remaining lifepoints.

The holograms disappeared signaling the end of the duel. I turned to the side where half a block away Chase was currently dueling.

"Hey, Manni?"

"What?" I answered as I tried to focus on Chase's duel.

"That was a good duel. Good luck in the rest of the Cup," Kenny said.

"Oh, uh, yeah, thanks," I said, still more focused on what was going on with Chase. He had two monsters on the field, Reborn Tengu (1700 600) in attack mode and a set monster. His opponent's only card on the field was Stone Statue of the Aztecs (300 2000) in defense mode. Chase must have attacked it with Reborn Tengu while it was set because his lifepoints stood at 7400. The Stone Statue's effect doubled any battle damage from an opponent's attack. Luckily for Chase, he had whittled his opponent's, a petite blonde girl, lifepoints down to 4800. Unluckily, it was now her turn.

"It's time to go on the attack," she said in a high voice, "I sacrifice Stone Statue of the Aztecs in order to summon Hieracosphinx (2400 1200)!" Her green Statue was soon replaced by a winged stone lion with a bird's face. "Hieracosphinx, attack his Reborn Tengu!"

The rock monster pounced across the field to take out Chase's gray-robed monster. When it was finished, it bounded back to the correct side of the field, and Chase was left with 6700 lifepoints. Then, Reborn Tengu returned to the field.

"What gives?" asked the blonde.

"When Reborn Tengu leaves the field, another Reborn Tengu is special summoned from my deck," Chase explained.

"Fine, I'll just destroy it again next turn," the girl said, "For now, I'll set this card face down and end my turn."

Chase drew a card to begin his turn, then considered the four cards in his hand. His eyes darted back and forth as he looked at his cards repeatedly.

"Will you hurry up?" Blondie called impatiently. It sounded like this wasn't the first request for speedier play.

"Hold on, Danielle, I'm planning out my move," Chase calmly replied, "Hmmm…Okay, I think I've got it. I'll start by sacrificing my Reborn Tengu in order to summon Granmarg, the Rock Monarch (2400 1000)!" Reborn Tengu was swiftly replaced by a huge golem with gold armor and a purple cape.

"Now, for Granmarg's effect: When he's successfully tribute summoned, I can destroy one set card on the field. Right now, there is only one set card on the field."

Granmarg lifted one huge rock arm and brought it down like a club on Danielle's face down card. The crushed card was sent to the graveyard.

"And next, I play the magic card Double Summon. As you would expect, this card allows me to normal summon twice this turn. So, I sacrifice my face down UFO Turtle (1400 1200) to summon Zaborg, the Thunder Monarch (2400 1000)." Chase's second Monarch wasn't as big as the first and had green and white body armor with purple clawed hands.

"When Zaborg is successfully tribute summoned," he continued, "I can destroy one monster on the field."

Zaborg raised his clawed hands over his heads. Electrical energy built up between his hands, which he then threw forward sending the electricity at Heiracosphinx which was destroyed on impact.

"Now that the field is cleared, my Monarchs can attack you directly!" Chase concluded. Zaborg sent another lightning attack at Danielle and Granmarg hit her with a holographic rock arm. Her lifepoints fell to 2400, then to 0. She slouched in defeat.

Chase nonchalantly shut off his duel disk and walked across the field to his opponent. He offered her his hand, which she shook. Then, he leaned in and whispered something in her ear in a way the TV crew would not be able to hear. Knowing Chase, they were no doubt words of condolence and encouragement. When he was done, he smoothly transitioned into an interview with the waiting reporter.

_That reminds me, _I thought, _I have another interview to do_.I nodded to the male reporter who was holding a microphone and waiting with a cameraman. The guy had interviewed me after every duel so far.

He and the cameraman walked towards me and I tried to put a smile on my face. According to my dad, I was supposed to seem happy, nice, and interested in these interviews.

_Lorenzo's POV_

When the holographic smoke finally thinned, there was nothing on the field. Wingweaver and Blue-Eyes Ultimate Dragon were gone as were our remaining lifepoints. The duel had ended in a draw.

Before I could gather my thoughts, I was swarmed by people holding microphones and cameras. I tried to answer their questions as quickly and clearly as possible, but I hardly knew what was being asked or what my answers were. The only person I wanted to talk to at the moment was Taylor, who was surrounded by his own group of reporters.

After a few minutes, I managed to extricate myself from the press and headed for Taylor. When I approached, he was still answering questions. I noticed very quickly that he was much better at this than I. He calmly answered questions one at a time, making sure to give each reporter a turn to ask. His responses were clear, concise, and often funny. When he finally noticed me, he simply smiled and said, "Alright, that's enough questions for now, guys," and the reporters thanked him for his time and left!"

"You're gonna have to teach me how to do that with the press," I said amazed once it was just us two.

"It comes with experience," he replied in a voice that seemed to belong to another person. During our duel, his voice had been deep and booming. Now, it was much higher and definitely friendlier.

Taylor must have noticed that his voice change had caught me by surprise because he said, "Let me explain. Earlier, I was using my 'dueling voice'. It's part of my act."

"Act?" was all I could think to say.

"Yeah, the whole 'The Taylor' thing," he said, "You don't think I always go around yelling like that and calling myself The Taylor do you?"

"I hadn't really thought about it," I admitted, "But that's not what I wanted to talk to you about."

"Well what did you want to talk about?" Taylor inquired.

"You had two face down cards," I began, "Obviously, one of them was Ring of Destruction. What was the second one?"

Taylor paused for a long time before he pulled the final face down card from a slot in his duel disk and showed it to me.

"Ring of Defense!" I exclaimed, "This card negates effect damage! If you played this, you would have won!"

"Yep," Taylor said softly

"So, why didn't you play it!?" I asked.

"Look Lorenzo," he said, "That was a great duel. I've never been pushed so hard, and no one has ever been able to beat my Blue-Eyes Ultimate Dragon. If I won, you would have been eliminated from the City Cup. You're too good to get eliminated this early, and besides, I want a rematch."

"Wow, thanks," I said, "But next time, you better not hold back."

"I won't," Taylor replied with a smile and we clasped hands.

"Hey, I'm meeting up with my friends to get something to eat pretty soon," I told him, "Why don't you come along?"

"Sounds good," he accepted, "I wouldn't know where to get good food anyway. I've only ever been in New York for last year's City Cup, and I got booted pretty early."

"Good thing you met me then," I said, "Because I happen to live here. I know just where to go."

"Then let's get going!"

_Unknown POV_

_I exited the elevator and stepped into a room that was best described as organized chaos. Staff watched banks of monitors and distributed information through their headsets. Others ran messages to various people scattered about the room. This was the City Cup Control Room. _

_The Control Room tracked all City Cup duels. This allowed the competition's staff to monitor the Cup standings, where duels were occurring and what their significance was (this information was immediately given to the Cup's broadcast partners), and if there were any rules violations. _

_I scanned the room and found the man I needed to talk to. He was watching three separate monitors and giving instructions into his headset. I walked to his station and tapped him on the shoulder. When he turned, I motioned for him to follow me._

_I then strode to my office, which was connected to the East side of the Control Room, with him in tow. We entered and I closed the door. The office had a wall length window overlooking the cityscape, but the wall connected to the Control Room was solid cement. It was sparsely decorated and furnished with a desk which had a laptop on top of it. There was one chair on the far side of the desk and two on the near side. I walked behind the desk and motioned for the man to take a seat._

"_So, Damien what's our status?"I asked once I was seated._

_Damien was a younger man than I. He was in his thirties, with shoulder length black hair and green eyes that seemed to stare through you. Apparently, it bothered some people. He was also taller than me by several inches. He wore a polo shirt with a City Cup insignia and khakis, his standard uniform._

"_Much better," he replied, "Brown hasn't dueled since his early victory and English has won three duels today. Most importantly, Betancourt and Miller dueled to a draw."_

"_Good," I said relieved, "It would upset our plans if Betancourt had gotten himself eliminated. He should know better than to face someone so good so early. What of the items?"_

"_They all appear to have the Items on their person. English and Betancourt wear them as necklaces and Brown keeps his on his waist," Damien informed me._

"_Good, alert me if that changes," I instructed, "And make sure none of them get eliminated. I gave you those three to monitor for a reason."_

"_Of course, sir," he said smoothly, "I'll make certain they remain in the Cup."_

"_You better," I said darkly, "Now get back to work."_

"_Yes, sir," he said and then left the office._

_I reached for one of the few decorations that sat on the desk. It was a set of small gold scales. The scales were relatively plain except for the design in the spot where the central pillar met the cross-bar. An intricately designed eye had been put there. I tipped one scale and watched them bounce back and forth._

Soon,_ I thought, _The final Millennium Items will be mine!


	9. Chapter 9

**Day One Conclusion**

_Lorenzo's POV_

Taylor and I walked along a busy street on our way to meet up with my friends at The Retreat. According to Simon's text, he and John were still in the Cup and had made a friend. Zach had responded saying he too was bringing another friend. That made three new additions to the group.

"So earlier, you said you were putting on act with the whole 'The Taylor' thing during our duel?" I asked to break the silence.

"Yeah, but not just for our duel," Taylor responded, "I do that every time I duel."

"Really, why?" I said curiously.

"It's a long story," Taylor said dismissively.

"It's a long walk," I rebutted.

"Fine," he relented, "There a few reasons, really. It kind of psyches out some of my opponents, you know, messes with their head. Plus, it's kind of fun." Taylor looked away and took a deep breath before continuing.

"But the main reason goes back to my childhood. See, my dad died when I was little, and my mom struggled to take care of us. We moved around a lot so that she could find work. I've always been a pretty small guy compared to others my age, and with always being the new kid, I got picked on a lot."

"But things changed. For my tenth birthday, I was given something my dad left for me: his Duel Monsters deck."

"Was that the deck you used against me?" I asked when he paused.

"Some of the cards, yes," he replied, "You see, my deck is built around all kinds of Dragon-types. My dad's was built around a specific monster."

"Blue-Eyes White Dragon," I guessed.

"Yeah," Taylor confirmed, "Turns out, that's a really rare and valuable card. And he had three of them! My mom could have sold those cards for some serious money that would have helped us out. But she saved them for me, like my dad wanted."

"Those cards must mean a lot to you," I surmised.

"They do. Anyway, I took those cards to school and dueled people left and right. I always won. I thought being good at Duel Monsters would get the others kids to like me, but after a while, no one wanted to duel me anymore. Instead of being bullied, I was just left alone. So, the next time we moved, I came up with an idea.

"When I dueled kids at my new school, I would use 'The Taylor' persona. The other kids thought it was funny, and I made friends. Eleven year-olds love that kind of stuff. I started trading cards with my new friends and began building my Dragon deck. I even started entering local tournaments. When I earned prize money, I gave half to my mom and the other half I used to get more cards.

"I soon became famous around Southern California for the _way_ I dueled as much as how good I was. By the time I reached high school, The Taylor was how I was known. And I soon learned that The Taylor was a good way to make money."

"How would you make money? High school tournaments don't give out prize money," I pointed out.

"True, but local fame has its benefits. Business owners offered to pay me to use their products in public, or sign autographs in their building, or even do local commercials. As I became more recognizable and I kept winning, the offers became better and better. Now, my mom and I have stayed in the same decent apartment for three years. The Taylor makes me more famous and more marketable, so I keep up the act," he finished with a small shrug.

"Wow, I never thought of it like that. My marketability or making money by being a duelist without dueling," I said, "That also explains why you handle the press so well."

"Yeah," he said, "I have to keep up a good image."

"So, I have one more question," I said, "Do you think there will be a time when you don't need The Taylor?"

"I don't know, Lorenzo," he answered, "I don't know."

_Simon's POV_

"Table for three?" the hostess asked John.

"Make that seven," he replied.

"Eight," I corrected, "Zach is bringing a friend, too."

"Eight," John said.

"Table for eight, then," she said, "Right this way."

Anna, John and I were the first to arrive at The Retreat. The place appeared to be somewhat busy, but the expected influx of duelists hadn't arrived yet. Well, except for us. After all, it was only a little after five o'clock and most wanted to duel as much as they could on the first day of the Qualifying round.

"I'm starving," Anna declared once the three of us were seated at a large table with five additional empty spots. She immediately began perusing the menu.

"Anna, don't you think we should wait for the others?" John asked.

"No," she replied bluntly, "I told you, I don't mess around when it comes to food."

"Simon, help me out here," John implored.

"Sorry man," I said, opening my own menu, "I'm with her. You snooze, you lose."

John glared at me, but relented and picked up his own menu. Our waitress was around shortly and took our drink orders. As she left, Todd entered. We motioned for him to join us.

"I hope this place is as good as I remember from last year," he said as he sat down, "You guys care to introduce me?"

"Right," I said, "Anna, this is David Todd. Todd, this is Anna Gooden."

"Pleased to meet you, Gooden," he said, extending his hand.

"Likewise, David," she said, shaking it.

"Call me Todd."

"Call me Anna."

"I don't think so."

Anna seemed to be taken aback. As Todd scanned his menu, she leaned over to John and asked, "What's his deal?"

"He just likes to call people by their last names. It's a lot easier if you just accept it," he advised.

The waitress came around again, this time getting a drink order for Todd. After another minute or so, Lorenzo arrived, a short guy with an afro in tow. John introduced Anna, then Lorenzo introduced Taylor. He also explained how they met.

"A draw huh?" Todd said.

"Well, if you aren't good enough to beat Lorenzo, I guess I shouldn't have any problems beating you," I said jokingly. The group seemed to find it funny, except for Lorenzo, who took exception and put me in a headlock.

Luckily for me, Lorenzo was embarrassed enough to release me when the waitress came to take his drink order. He was rather sheepish when he asked for a glass of water.

"I think you just blew your shot with her," I said wryly. That earned a punch to the upper arm.

"Between you and Bihl, it's a miracle I can eat solid food!" I complained as I rubbed my arm. Just for that, I got a double arm punch. Why did they have to sit on either side of me?

Fortunately, any further violence was forestalled by the arrival of Zach and his new friend. She was about as tall as Anna with shoulder length straight black hair. Her brown eyes were surrounded by dark makeup, but contrary to her gothic attire, she smiled brightly at our group. Zach introduced her as Grace Connors, a duelist from Florida.

"So I know Taylor is good from his ADMA ranking," I said, "And I've seen Anna duel, so I know she's good. So, how good are you Grace?"

"Well, I don't like to brag," she began, "But, I did win the Disney Amateur Championships in Orlando this April. And last April."

"What happened to 'I don't like to brag'?" Todd joked.

"Well, the question required me to brag," Grace asserted.

We continued to get to know each other throughout our meal. Pretty soon, it seemed as if Anna, Taylor, and Grace had always been part of our group.

"Excuse me, ladies and gentlemen."

The eight of us stopped talking and chewing and turned to the man who had approached our table.

"Mr. Descalso!" Lorenzo exclaimed, "Nice to see you again, sir."

The portly restaurateur smiled at our group and said, "I see you've brought more duelist friends this time. I hope you're all doing well in the City Cup."

"As far as I know, we are," I informed him.

"Well, how many points do you have?" he inquired.

We went around the table, telling Mr. Descalso how many points we each had. Todd had 25, Taylor had 20, Lorenzo had the least with 10, I had 11, John had 14, Anna had 20, Zach had 20, and Grace had 15. Taylor and Lorenzo excitedly relayed the story of their duel to the owner.

"A draw?" he said when they finished, "Well, you don't see that every day. No, that you don't. Well, I just wanted to check in on you youngsters. Good luck in the Cup."

We gave him our thanks as he left to attend to other business which appeared to be greeting the other duelists entering his establishment. Eventually, our meal wound down and we discussed what we would do with the rest of our night.

"I want to get another duel in," Lorenzo was saying, "I'm gonna need some more points to stay in contention."

"I second that," I added.

"I think we all want to duel," John said, "But if we go in a large pack, who's going to duel us?"

"Yeah we should split up," Anna agreed.

"Grace and I will head out together," Zach said.

"And Todd and I will stick together, considering we're both going back to my place anyway," I pointed out, "And we'll need to find Isaac before we head back."

"So that leaves Lorenzo and I and Anna and John," Taylor concluded.

"Alright, let's get going then!" John declared.

_John's POV_

"I end my turn," Jasmine said with a grin. The girl had good reason to grin, considering she had just waylaid my lifepoints with her Ultimate Tyranno (3000 2200). Now, I was left with a measly 700 lifepoints. To make matters worse, my field and hand were empty. The only thing in my favor was the score since Jasmine was down to 400 lifepoints.

"Here goes nothing," I muttered as I made the draw that would decide this duel.

"Did you get anything good?" Jasmine asked, still grinning.

"As a matter of fact, I did," I answered, "I special summon Elemental Hero Bubbleman (800 1200) in attack mode. I was able to special summon him since he was the only card in my hand, and since he's now the only card on my side of the field, I can use his other effect allowing me to draw two cards." I swiftly replenished my hand with two new cards.

"Now you're in for it," I said, "I summon Elemental Hero Burstinatrix (1200 800)!"

"Oh, I'm so scared!" Jasmine mocked me. Although, to be honest, seeing the bubble wielding Warrior and the unimposing woman staring down her huge armored dinosaur was sort of funny. Sort of.

"I activate the magic card Mask Change!" Suddenly, Burstinatrix was consumed by flame, to the awe of the crowd.

"Mask Change allows me to substitute an Elemental Hero for a Masked Hero of the same attribute. So rise from the flames, Masked Hero Goka (2200 1800)!" The fire died down, but what emerged was no longer Elemental Hero Burstinatrix. This new monster had red armor-like skin and was surrounded by a nimbus of flame.

"Neat party trick," Jasmine commented, "But Ultimate Tyranno is still far stronger."

"I care to disagree," I said, "Masked Hero Goka has a powerful effect. He gains 100 attack points for every Elemental Hero monster in my graveyard, and over the course of this duel, you've destroyed eight of my Heroes. That means our monsters are evenly matched."

"Oh, damn!" she exclaimed.

"Goka, attack!" The fiery nimbus grew more powerful and Goka launched himself at her Dino. He scored a direct hit in its abdomen, and then, both monsters were consumed in flames.

"Now you're lifepoints are wide open. Finish her off, Bubbleman!" The Elemental Hero fired a stream of bubbles from a wrist-mounted gun, taking the remainder of Jasmine's lifepoints.

_I hope the others are doing this well, _I thought.

_Lorenzo's POV_

_Why can't I duel weak opponents?_

Although not as difficult as Taylor, this Grant guy with a Southern accent was giving me a run for my money. Thus far, he had halved my lifepoints to 4000 and taken down some of my strongest monsters. I still held the edge, as his lifepoints were at a much lower 1500.

On the field, Grant had gained the upper hand again. After fusion summoning Master of Oz (4200 3700), he had used the giant green koala to wipe away my defenses. Now, I had to beat that boxing marsupial with nothing but the cards in my hand and the one I was about to draw.

"Y'all gonna make a move soon?" Grant drawled.

"Be careful what you wish for," I cautioned, "I play Photon Lead. This allows me to special summon a level 4 or lower Light attribute monster from my hand in attack mode. And I choose Dancing Fairy (1700 1000)."

Three diminutive Fairies burst into existence on my side of the field. Next to the colossal Master of Oz, they looked relatively harmless.

"Those three little ladies couldn't hurt a fly, let alone a koala," Grant quipped.

"No, but this guy can," I retorted, "I sacrifice Dancing Fairy to summon Darklord Desire (3000 2800)."

The Fairies faded from existence and were replaced by a red winged Fairy wielding a large sword and wearing blue and gold armor.

"That monster is level 10!" Grant cried, "Just 'cause there were three little Fairies, don't mean that monster counted as three tributes!"

"True, but Darklord Desire can be summoned with one tribute if that tribute is a Fairy-type monster," I explained, "And that's not all: By reducing Desire's attack by 1000 points, I can send one monster you control to the graveyard. So, I'll reduce Desire's attack to 2000, destroy Master of Oz, and still have enough attack points to finish you off."

"Jiminy that's not good!"

A dark aura surrounded Desire and sapped his attack points to 2000. Then, the aura moved to encompass the Darklord's sword, which he then used to cleave Master of Oz in two. The monster finished with a stab through Grant's chest, ending the duel.

_Simon's POV_

"Hey, Mom, we're home!" I called as Todd, Isaac and I stepped through our front door. It was around 10 pm now, and most of the City Cup competitors had finished dueling for the day. The three of us had called it quits about twenty minutes ago and had found the ride home to be much quicker than the ride into the city.

"Welcome back," she said, "I see you boys are all still in the Cup. I've been monitoring the action on TV all day."

"Really?" I asked. She never watched ESPN unless I had it on.

"Turn it up, it's coming out of commercial," Todd said. I grabbed the remote and obliged him as we all sat down and watched.

"_Day one of the City Cup Qualifying Round winds down. Welcome all, joining me live at our set in New York City are legendary duelists and former Cup champions, David Schultz and Manuel English, and I'm Rece Davis," the host said._

"_It's been a busy Elimination Day," he continued, "With over half the field getting the boot. We began the day with three hundred and twenty competitors and ended with a mere one thirty! But we begin our coverage with the day's most exciting duel, number two ranked Taylor Miller versus number nine Lorenzo Betancourt."_

"_Well, Rece," David cut in, "That was certainly a duel we won't soon forget. Both duelists repeatedly found ways to overcome nearly impossible odds, and I'm sure most are glad it ended in a draw so that we could have a potential rematch in the Tournament."_

"_Certainly," Manuel added, "We are all excited that these two are still alive. What most impressed me, and probably the scouts too, was the way they were calm under pressure and never gave up."_

"_Now, that was the day's best duel, but the day's best duelist," Rece said in an attempt to shift the conversation, "Was undoubtedly Manni English. He finished the day with a Cup high 60 points and eliminated four duelists in the process."_

"_He was locked in today," Dave commented, "He definitely came prepared."_

"_This morning," Manuel said, "He told me he was going to take today very seriously. He wanted to start ahead, and I say mission accomplished."_

"_Now, as you look at the standings as the last duels of the day finish up and most duelists have gone back to their hotel rooms, what stands out the most to you?" Rece asked._

"_Simon Brown has just 15 points," Dave chose, "He dueled twice and won twice, but he wins just 5 points from those duels. He's tied with his brother, who had to win a play-in tournament just to be in the Cup, and Isaac actually lost a duel today. If he ends up missing the Tournament, he's going to look back at today as a serious missed opportunity."_

"_And Manuel?" Rece transitioned._

"_For me, Chase Raynys sitting in second place with 45 points is the surprise of the day," Manuel answered, "Some picked him to do well and some even picked him to make the Tournament, but I don't anyone saw this coming."_

"_Certainly a lot happening on day one of the City Cup, like always. Remember, Cup duels can occur at any time throughout the Qualifying Round. Any late-night Duel Monsters action can be seen on ESPN or the ESPN family of networks throughout the night and into the morning. But, for now, that's all from New York. With David Schultz and Manuel English, this is Rece Davis, signing off," he concluded._

I switched off the TV as the broadcast went back to commercial.

"15 points? That's rough Brown and younger Brown," Todd said.

"Well, sorry we can't all have 30 like you," I sarcastically replied.

"At least you guys won all your duels," Isaac said, "I actually lost."

"Hey, you're still in this thing," I told him, "That's all that matters. Anyway, we should probably get some sleep if we're gonna get an early start tomorrow."

"Got that right," Todd agreed, "Good night, guys."

"'Night."

"Buenas noches."


End file.
